I Wasn't Going to Die Without Doing That
by june7rose
Summary: Magnus and Alex romance, mpreg, please pay attention to M rating. For adult fans of the book and this relash, and for people who may not be able to find much of this type of romance to read elsewhere.
1. Chapter 1

Alex POV

"Did you see him at breakfast?" Halfborn asks, grunting with the effort of chopping off the head of a einherji from floor 22. Halfborn swings his double-sided black steel axes, and seconds later we're down one more obstacle between floor 19 and the red flag.

"I didn't", Mallory answers, slicing with twin gleaming solid silver knives inlaid with rubies that had been a gift from her mother, Frigg, the Queen of the Gods.

"No one asked you, woman", Halfborn spits, "Why would YOU have seen him?"

"Shut up! Or I'm trying out my new toys on you!", Mallory returns, and Halfborn has the decency to shiver as the sun glints off the perfectly balanced twin blades. They're small, but the finest blades in our arsenal. Of course, no one would expect less than the perfection from the Queen of Asgard, the goddess Mallory was only beginning to accept as her biological mother.

"Alex?", Halfborn asks.

I shiver in my pink and green plaid sweater vest and pink button down. The weather is turning here just as it is on Midgard. They tend to be replicas of each other in some ways.

These daily battle games were getting to be a rare indulgence for Magnus and myself. We both found more fulfillment spending most of our time on Midgard, running Chase Place. We'd rather help homeless kids than bathe ourselves in blood. Call us crazy. More fulfillment. Not to mention more privacy.

The fact that I was shivering meant one thing. The man in question, whom I had also not seen this morning, was nowhere nearby. The temperature always rose 10 degrees when he was within a quarter mile.

"Missing your god of summer?", Halfborn snickers. None of our cohort had a huge problem with it they learned about my burgeoning romance with the knucklehead, but if anyone did, it was Halfborn, who I think had looked at Magnus a certain way, and now he had to change his visual.

We protected each other on Floor 19, but right now I really want to wrap my garrote around his neck and squeeze. No more jokes for Halfborn Gunderson. Not for a few hours at least.

Instead, I whip out my delicate, but deadly weapon, and snap off the head of an einherji walking by. The head rolls across the ground, and stops at Halfborn's feet. He has the decency to swallow hard.

"Sorry", he mumbles. Yeah, he should be, but honestly I kinda am. Missing my god of summer that is. I'm cold! And I feel alone-the natural state not only of Alex Fierro, but of all relatives of Loki. We have dark hair and darker souls, you see, at least that's the way I look at it. Being in Magnus's presence is intoxicating for anyone, but especially for us. He looks like sunshine. He feels like sunshine. He even smells like sunshine. For a child of Loki, looking at Magnus is a lot like turning my face toward the sun on the first warm spring day. I felt...warm. Safe. Home.

Which is odd because those are feelings I thought I'd matured past needing to feel. When someone has an early life like mine, they learn that trust is for fools. The list of people who have not let me down is far shorter than the list of those who have. Which is why I tried to hide my feelings so for long. Don't get me wrong, there are other reasons, like I'm way too cool for Magnus Chase. And way too cool to show how I feel. A girl doesn't do that for just anyone.

But nevertheless...I've been kind of crushing on him for a long time now. But Magnus never showed any interest in males. Not that I am most of the time, but, well...you know how hard I am to understand for most people. But he seemed...straight as an arrow and as cis as my sister. It's hard to imagine what it took for a guy like Magnus to fall in love with someone as inappropriate as me. Well I like to think he fell in love. We don't talk about that though, at least we haven't...dammit, where is he? I'm starting to worry now.

"Is he with Sam?", Halfborn asks. "They seem joined at the hip lately."

My boyfriend and my sister, joined at the hip? Oh really? Hpmf.

We walk around the corner and...there he is. On the ground in a ball, holding his head, looking more like Kurt Cobain on a bender than ever. He's moaning. Funny I couldn't feel him, couldn't sense him. There seems to be no Magnus...in Magnus right now. He thrashes on the ground.

"What's the matter dufus, fall over?", Mallory asks.

"What an idi..." The word isn't out of my mouth. He's actually in pain. Magnus is in pain and coming apart at the seams. My insult dies on my lips, and I basically flatten Halfborn and Mallory to get past them.

"Hey!", Mallory complains. But I'm on my knees by his side, cradling his head in the crook of my elbow in under a second.

"What's wrong, baby? Talk to me. What's wrong?", I ask, looking him over for a wound. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong..."

"In my head!" he cries out, "Lo...Lo...Lokiiiiii!"

"How is that possible?", Mallory asks. "Loki has been captured, he's...in a friggin walnut! How can he reach you telepathically anymore?"

Magnus screams like his insides are being chewed up. He holds his head as if he'd trying to hold it together.

"Only one way to stop it. Loki will never give up while Magnus is alive, or well...our version of alive...do your thing, Fierro", Halfborn advises. But it's not as easy as it once was.

"Dammit", I whisper, twisting my garrote in my hands.

Magnus screams again.

"His head is going to explode, Fierro!", Halfborn yells.

I lift up his head and wrap my deadly weapon around his neck. Why does he seem so much weaker, so much...more innocent than the last time I did this? I smooth a finger down his cheek. "I'm sorry. Has to be done. I'm going to want to know all about this in a few hours", I saw, close my eyes, and squeeze.

The next morning.

This is my third vase. And it too goes crashing against the wall. Magnus is a fast healer, he heals hours faster than anyone else, but it's been nearly 24 of them and his head is still floating in a strawberry-scented bubble bath while his decapitated body waits peacefully on his bed. Did I...did something go wrong?

What did my mother do to him? God or not, Loki is dead if anything...agghhhhh! Magnus, dammit, where are you?! Why the hell aren't you awake?

My door flies open, and I hurl vase number four at the head of whoever came in.

"Dammit, Fierro", Gunderson complains. "He's back."

I drop everything and rush to his room.

"Could you not knock me over?" Halfborn complains again, "You could have waited with him, you know, but you didn't."

"I didn't sit quietly by the bleeding decapitated corpse of my boyfriend? You don't say. I can't take that, Gunderson, I can't deal with watching him...he's awake that's all that matters." I rush toward Magnus's room.

"Thank the gods. Magnus, what took so long?! I was worried sick! Magnus, are you okay? What did Loki do to you? Magnus? Magnus?" But my boyfriend is just standing there, staring at me.

"Just let me rest a while", he says. And closes the door in my face.

Our plan to return to Chase Place immediately after the battle went all to Helheim of course. So now I'm at dinner at Hotel Valhalla, too upset to eat.

"Maybe he's genuinely just tired", Sam says. But something is wrong, I can feel it. Something has changed between us.

He walks in, and I inhale sharply. Dammit, I did not want to feel this way. Not about anyone, ever. I did not intend to let anyone get to me like this, destroy me with a word, or rather no words.

He sits as far from Sam and me as possible. "Still think he was just tired?", I ask rhetorically.

Mallory puts an arm around his shoulders. Something is wrong. Why won't he talk to me?

So, I wait until he's eaten and he gets up, and starts to walk back to his room. Sam tries to grab me. "Maybe you should let him be for the night", she advises, but I can't.

I call out to him, and hate myself for the unshed tears in my voice.

"You know if you're pissed at me, you can just say so! I'm sorry, okay?! I'm sorry I had to do that, do you think I enjoyed it? I don't want to hurt you, but he would have killed you if I hadn't. I lo...I'm sorry."

"Alex", he says, turning around, tears on his cheeks, "We can't see each other anymore, okay? We can be friends, but I need some space for a while. I'm sorry." He keeps walking.

My heart explodes and shatters into a million pieces, my stomach falls to the floor. This is what it feels like have the world explode in your hands, to have a life for a little while, only to feel it be snatched away. He should have just killed me. It would hurt less.

The rejection settles in my bloodstream. I'm used to it by now, aren't I? But...some unknown force seems to want to come back for more pain, because I follow him.

"Why?" And the tears fall. "Why, Magnus? Did I do something? Did I not do something?"

And then he's rushing toward me and I'm in his arms. I inhale sunshine. Probably for the last time, I think.

"We can't be together", he says, "Loki told me, and if you'd been there, you'd know he was telling the truth. If we keep doing this, something terrible will happen to you that could cost you your life. I'm not willing to risk that."

"Loki told you...what...you can't trust him!"

"He convinced me. I'm not going to lose you", he insists.

"You're losing me now!" I cry.

"But you're alive. I'm going back to Chase Place. I think you should stay here. It's just going to be too hard for a while to see you all the time. I...what you were going to say before...me too." He kisses the top of my head and walks away.


	2. Chapter 2

Two months later.

Alex POV

It will be Winter Solstice this week. I've spent the last 8 weeks throwing pottery, fighting to death every chance I get, and trying not to jump off the Hotel Valhalla, or push Magnus off the top of it.

He still won't talk to me or tell me what happened. But something has him so spooked he won't be alone in a room with me. He looks at me though when he thinks I'm not watching, and I do the same to him. I hate him. I hate so much I could kill him. And then he coughs, and I worry about him, and then I hate myself. But nothing can change the way my chest seizes up when I see him, or the crushing loneliness of being all by myself...again.

No one in our cohort is in the mood for a party. I despise myself for waiting and watching for him, but he shows up, looking terrible, like he hasn't bathed since the last time I saw him. His blonde hair looks almost brown with grease.

The feast is filled with loud einherjar swigging mead from bottles, hanging from the tree in the center of the room, and eating their roast Saehrimnir. I want no part of it. Angrily, I jump up, and the room turns to stare.

I get up and try to rush back to my room, not paying attention, and run right into...him.

"I'm sorry, I'm not following you, just going to my room", I say, jumping back from him like I got an electric shock.

"I didn't think you were, I mean, I wasn't..." He stumbles.

"Magnus...are you drunk?"

He laughs bitterly and I realize I have not been the only one suffering. "How can I not be, when the person I love more than my own life is close enough to touch, but I can't?"

"Why are you doing this to us?" I insist again. "Whatever my mother said...ignore it."

"I can't ignore this."

"What did she say?" He tries to push past me.

"Magnus stop! You owe me an answer that makes sense! After everything we've meant to each other, I don't know how you could do this!"

"If we have a physical relationship, you're going to die! That's what Loki said!", he bellows, and he nearly falls over.

"And you believe him!" I scream.

"If you'd been there, you would have too! I can't lose you!" He trips in his drunken stooper and he nearly knocks me over.

I catch him, and he yanks me hard into his arms. Crack.

He holds his cheek, which blossoms bright pink where my palm made contact with his pale flesh.

"You touch me again, Magnus Chase, and I'll kill you..." I reach for my garrote.

He moves closer. "I said touch me again, Magnus, and I'll..." Don't reach for him. I can't stop myself. "Don't...touch me again, Magnus. Touch me again. Touch me again, please!"

We're kissing, and then we're in the elevator, and somehow we're pushing our way into my room. He's had a LOT of mead. A lot. He tastes like alcohol and honey, with a little falafel mixed in, and he smells awful.

I'd fantasized about being intimate with him a million times, but it was never like this. Hurried, frantic drunken kisses, clothes discarded in seconds in a warm pile on the floor. The smell of his skin...like someone who lay in the sun all day to get a tan. His skin even smells like sunshine, and it's overtaking the scent of unwash as he becomes more aroused.

I crave his hands on me, and he discards every stitch of clothing quickly until we're both naked. "I don't want to hurt you", he says, "And I have no idea what I'm doing."

"Yeah, I figured that much out, Chase", I answer, trying not to smile because he doesn't deserve it, but I still want to grant it to him.

Instinct is a powerful thing. He may not know what he's doing, but he's figuring it out fast. He has me on my side on the bed in seconds, and I'm trying to help him.

"I don't want to hurt you", he says a million times. "I'd rather die than hurt you."

And then pushes inside me, and it feels like my heart is exploding.

"Are you okay? Are you sure? I don't want to hurt you", he repeats.

"Don't..." I say and he freezes. So I smack him. "Stop. Don't stop. Please, no matter what you do, don't stop."

I feel his fingers reach around and touch me intimately. I inhale sharply. "Deeper", I cry out.

"I don't want to hurt..."

"Please...OH!"

We both release simultaneously. He lifts the back of my hair and starts kissing my neck. "Are you okay? I didn't know what to do, I don't know what I'm doing..."

"I beg to differ", I laugh, "But do me one favor, Sunshine, take a shower..."

"First thing in the morning", he says.

"How about now?"

"Are you serious?" he asks, pouting.

"Deadly. Go on", I say, pushing him out of bed. It must have taken him a minute to figure it out drunk, because I crack up laughing when I hear the water turn on a full five minutes later.

He stumbles back, still damp, and I cry out as he crawls under the covers with me.

"Dry yourself off! You really are a blonde caveman, Magnus. Our berserker has nothing on you", I joke.

"I missed you", I say, finally.

He squeezes me. "You'll never know what this has been like." His breath, the feel of him, the smell of him, his warmth, his essence...it was like the sun turned its back on me for months. To have him back...is electrifying.

"Oh yes I do", I reassure him.

"I..."

"Me too."

We fall asleep in a lump of covers and limbs, and don't get out of bed for days.

"What are they doing in there?" I recognize Mallory's voice some time later, magnified, so her face must be pressed up against my door.

"You know what they're doing, woman! You ought to be doing it to me, then you'd be less curious!", Halfborn adds.

"I'll cut off anything that you want it done to, problem solved!" she yells back, and I try not to howl out loud laughing.

"What is going on here?!" I recognize that booming soprano. It's my sister.

"Shit", I say, and toss Magnus a shirt. He pulls on some clothes fast.

"How long have we been in here?" he asks.

"Not sure. But clearly there's a crowd forming. And you know her, she's coming in...she'll think something is wrong..." I say.

"Don't go in there", Halfborn suggests to her on the other side of the door.

"Why not?"

"Because we heard sounds", Mallory offers.

"What kind of sounds, like they're hurt?", Sam asks.

"Sorta", Halfborn laughs.

"This is not funny! If Magnus or my sister are hurt..."

"You know what they're doing woman, you've been married four years!", Halfborn teases, then follows it with a sheepish "sorry", as if he just realized he called the very devout and skilled-with-a-lighted-spear, Samirah al-Abbas, daughter of the god Loki, "woman."

We both get dressed fast. "Ready?" I ask him.

"As I'm gonna get", he says, blushing fiercely.

Sam POV

My brother...no, my sister, answers the door, standing in a perfect pose with green shorts and a pink t-shirt on, face flushed, wider smile than I've ever seen on her face.

"Can I help you, my darling sister?" she asks, kissing me on the cheek.

"Just checking on you", I say. Halfborn was right. The room smells like sex and sunshine, and if Alex was glowing any brighter, I could sell her as artificial lighting. It's obvious what's been going on. And I'm very happy for them both. I wish they'd have gotten married first, but...I'm the older sister, I'm allowed to fuss.

"So, when did you two make up?" I ask.

"Make up?" Alex asks, innocently, and I just shake my head at her.

Weeks go by and they're rarely out of each other's company, kissing in the elevator, arms wrapped around each other, and one day, I see Alex run toward her room, and slam the door behind her.

I bang on the door. "Alex? It's Sam."

"Go away!" she yells from the other side of the door.

"Honey, what's wrong?" I ask, "Did you and Magnus have a fight?"

"No. Go away."

"I'm not going away, I'm your sister..." I lean against the door, and shout. "Alex, open up, or I'll knock it down." She yanks the door open, and I nearly fall through it. I didn't expect her to respond so quickly.

"There's something wrong", she starts, unshed tears in her voice. "I feel terrible lately. I'm dizzy, my stomach hurts. I have headaches, I can't keep anything down. And I've been female without even a single male day in between for a long, long time. So I wonder if my mother's prophecy isn't coming true, if me being intimate with Magnus is going to kill me. So I go to the doctor, scared he's going to tell me I have this horrible disease, but..." She starts to sob.

"It's worse, he says there's something...inside me...", she cries.

"Something inside you?" Oh my gods. "Stupid doctor, terrifying you! Um, Alex, you know how Amir and I have been trying to have a baby for so long..."

"Yeah." She touches my shoulder. "I'm sorry it's taking so long...I may not live long enough to become an aunt and an uncle."

I crack up laughing, I can't help it, even though she glares at me and spits: "Samirah, I am your sister, and I could be dying!"

"Alex, I don't think you're sick...I think you're pregnant." Her mouth falls open.

"No, no, that's impossible. You know that's impossible. I'm usually a woman... in my heart..." She touches her chest and I want to sob for my beautiful little sis. "In my soul. I feel it. But physically, you know I'm...male. I can't..."

"I think you might be", I say. This isn't easy for me either. I have craved a child for so long, and now someone who doesn't want one at all is pregnant. Life is so unfair, and never more unfair than it is for einherjar.

"You're saying you think a biological male can get pregnant?" she spits.

"I'm saying you're female for all intents and purposes, sis, I'm saying you're the gender fluid child of a gender fluid parent who happens to be a god, and as your grandfather knew, you have a lot of transgender people in your mortal family tree too. I'm saying you're sexually active with the son of the god of fertility. I'm saying I think anything can happen", I answer.

"Gods!" she cries. "Do you really think so? Where is the baby growing? How would he or she be born?!"

"I can't answer any of that, sis."

"The god of fertility?! I thought Frey was the god of summer!", Alex howls.

"Summer, sunshine, life, re-birth, fertility, babies, a good time being had by all", I correct with a wink.

"Dammit!", she howls again. "And what's more disturbing, I'm DEAD! I'm dead, Samirah, the only thing weirder than a pregnant man is a pregnant dead man! How in the world can two dead men create life?!" I'm truly afraid she's going to make herself ill. Maybe this is what Loki was referring to.

"I don't know! I don't know, Alex! How can Thor lose the same damn hammer a thousand times and Ragnarok never really starts...I don't know how any of this works, that's why it's called magic..."

"Samirah al-Abbas, did you just say 'damn'?", she asks.

"The point is, I don't know, sis, I don't know." I grab her and hold her close to me. "But the gods made this happen. We have to believe there was a reason. We have to believe it can work out. And please stop calling yourself a man, we both know it's not true."

"Work out?! I can't have this baby!"

I shut down immediately even though I try not to. "You're not even going to consider having it?" I ask. Oh, to trade places with her. The gods are cruel.

"Consider? Oh gods!" Her head falls in her hands. "Of course, I'm going to consider...this baby is me and Magnus..."

"It's your decision", I say.

"Damn straight, 100% it's my decision", she says, wiping her eyes, and I can feel her getting her strength back.

She stands up and looks into her full-length mirror, pulling up her shirt. "I'm going to be a mom", she says. "And a dad too."

I hold her tight. "You're going to be the most loving parent I know. It's going to be okay. But you have to tell Magnus."

"NO! No, absolutely not, he'll freak out, he'll leave!", she screams, "You know he can't handle this!"

"Alex, this isn't a secret that can stay hidden for long!" I insist.

"Sure it can. I'm skinny! Very skinny! Maybe einherji gestate quickly! Yes, I'll have this baby in a couple of weeks, no one will notice. I'll just stay alone, no one gets close, baby is born, I'll find great adoptive parents, no one will ever be the wiser. In a month, I'll be my old self again!" She's breathing steadily for the first time in an hour, so I don't pick this moment to tell her she's completely delusional.

"Just in case your plan doesn't work out, Alex, I would like you to think about a path you could travel which...at the end of it you could tell Magnus about the baby", I say.

"A path I could travel?" she raises the eyebrow above her hazel eye.

"A way to tell him."

"Please don't tell him, Sam", she begs.

"Hey, you're my sister, we're family, you're my first loyalty. You take all the time you need. But you have to tell him, Alex, you have to", I insist.

"This will be over before you know it", she smiles, "There won't be any need to tell anyone."

Now I'm the one panicking.

Next morning, she comes to breakfast in a loose black sweatshirt and big black yoga pants. Yep, no one is going to notice anything weird about her at all. I roll my eyes.

"What are you wearing?!", Gunderson blurts.

"Yeah, what ARE you wearing?", Mallory adds.

"Kinda colorless for you, don't you think?", T.J. asks, "Did someone die?"

"Where's the pink and green?", Gunderson adds.

"Are you okay?", Magnus asks, seizing her hand, all concern. Oh yes, this stayed secret a lonnnngggg time. My poor sister.

"I'm fine. Don't touch me, you were right we shouldn't be involved. I just want to be alone", she pronounces, and marches off.

"You need to eat!", I call after her.

Gunderson rolls his eyes. "What did you do to her this time, Beantown? And how long before this episode of the Dead and the Restless is over?"

I sigh and get in line to get some breakfast for Alex, sending a prayer to Allah and one to Odin too. Alex is going to need all the help she can get.


	3. Chapter 3

"You promised me this would never happen!"

Loki waves a hand in front of his face to disperse the flames. "Surt, relax, you're going to give yourself angina."

"But you swore! None of us believed it when we first heard the prophecy. That the child of two einherjar would defeat me and destroy Muspellheim. It was impossible. But we killed every hero we could get our hands on before he could get his hands on a blade, just in case. Before he could reproduce. And then a child was born to the god of life and fertility and we all got worried. But we succeeded, we killed him before he could father a child! But it wasn't enough. Dead mortals do not reproduce. But Magnus Chase managed it anyway...he's an einherji who is the child of the god of fertility!"

"I'm not an infant you have explain everything to, I was there. Yes, and I tried to make him look bad, I manipulated that girl, that Valkyrie, the one who died, whatever her name was...she fixed the tape, Chase looked like a fool by the time she got done with him. But they still let him in. That's not my fault", Loki says.

"And impregnated a child of yours! A male child! How is this possible?", Surt screams.

"First of all, if you ever met Alex, you'd know how little "male child" describes her and how little she cares for my opinion...anyway, I warned him. I came to him in a vision and I warned him not to touch her. He did anyway. Lustful mortals, and Alex always did her own thing", Loki answers.

"Kill her! You can control your children, Lord Loki, I know you can. Just kill her..."

"I've tried. It's not so easy. She has a...mind of her own", Loki grumbles. "Besides, maybe I'm not of a mind to kill my kid and grandkid."

Steam rises from Surt's head and flames belch from his throat.

"Jeeze, lay off the Chipotle..."

"Are you refusing to cooperate, God of Mischief?", Surt booms.

"No, I'm asking what's in it for me."

"Rulership over half the domains of Musspellheim?"

"Ding, ding, that, Surt, is the right answer...for now. I have my eyes on a much larger prize...wow where was all this eloquence when I battled Chase..."

"Don't forget, God of Mischief, I freed you from that walnut, and I can put you right back inside", Surt threatens.

"Like talking my kid into offing herself, you may find that a little more difficult than you planned..."

"Care to find out Laufeyson..."

"No." Loki waves him away. "I'm happy to cooperate and become ruler of Musspellheim."

"Half ruler..."

"Right, right, silly me...

"Lord Loki, I would not get greedy if I were you", Surt warns.

"Do me a favor and when you go after these two, come at them with everything you've got. They're tougher than they look, and be sure to murder that despicable, revolting, son of the revolting god of life, Magnus Chase."

Back at Hotel Valhalla

Sam POV

"What did I do now? But I didn't do anything!" Magnus yells.

"It's okay, I'll check on her", I say, carrying a plate with a breakfast burrito, oatmeal, and a banana on it to Alex's room.

"She can take care of herself", Halfborn calls after me, unhelpfully.

"No, she really can't", I mumble.

I push the door open.

"Hey, I could have hit you with a vase!" Alex insists.

"No, you wouldn't have. Sit down."

"I don't take orders!"

"Sit down!"

She sits on her bed.

"Here, eat", I order.

"No, thank you, that looks disgusting..."

"Alex, you have to take care of yourself", I insist.

"How is eating half-melted processed cheese spread on a fake-egg filled tortilla 'taking care of myself'?"

"Alex...eat! At least have the banana. You have to tell him, honey..." I run my fingers through her green hair, and she doesn't pull away. "You have to tell Magnus you're carrying his child. He deserves to know."

"I have nothing to say to him."

"You love him."

"I have to decide what to do about this before I talk to him. I have to have it together when I do."

"Okay, okay, but then you have to tell him...", I insist.

"Stop pressuring me! I don't HAVE to do anything. Look, what I need is to get out of here for a while, away, away away, from Magnus, from the whole crew. Do you have some mission to go on for Odin? I volunteer. I need the time away", she says.

"You can't risk yourself or the baby on some mission for Odin. Anything could happen, and if you died away from here, I couldn't save you—or the baby- from Helheim..."

She looks horrified.

"For the love of the gods, sis, I don't even know if there's going to be any baby! Really. I don't know what I want to do. I'm not going to wrap myself in bubble wrap and wait to deliver!" she howls. "Everyone here risks themselves every day, there are no special rules for me."

"There ARE special rules for you, right now. Don't you really? Know what you want to do? Because I think you do, and I think you're too scared to admit it to yourself, and way too scared to admit it to Magnus. He's not going to leave you, sis! He loves you!" I cry.

"He's never said it!" Tears flow down her cheeks.

Oh my. "He loves you..." I touch her hand.

"Don't touch me." She yanks her hand back like I burned her.

"I think you want be a mother, and I think you want Magnus to be the father of your child."

"Doesn't matter what I want...", she weeps again, "I never get it."

"In this case, you just might...listen, do you want to move in with Amir and me...I mean just for a little while until you sort yourself out?" I ask.

She nods vigorously. "Y...yes. I can't see them every day. I can't see...every day."

"Okay, okay. This stress is not good for you." I wrap an arm around her shoulders. "Let's pack you a bag, and get out of here fast. I don't want to deal with questions either."

We throw some clothes in a bag and quietly head for the elevator. The entire cohort is still sitting at the table waiting patiently for us to show ourselves.

"F..."

"Don't say it!" I order.

"Where are you going?", Magnus insists, jumping up from his seat. My heart breaks for him. "What's going on? What did I do? I'm sorry, okay."

"She just needs a little time", I say.

"A little time for what? A little time from me? Listen, Alex, I'm sorry I broke up with you, I just didn't want to..."

"You should have thought of that!", Alex spits, fear making her vicious. But I don't want her to say something she can't take back.

"I hate you", she yells, and I squeeze my eyes closed. "You did this to me."

Magnus looks like he's dying. He grabs his chest like she stabbed him.

"Alex...", he whispers and the doors to the elevator close.

My House

"That was cruel, Alex, not to mention untrue", I tell her.

"I needed him to step back. I forgot my pottery equipment! My clay! I can't be without it, I, I...get nervous..."

"I'll go get it, I'll go get it", Amir offers fast, and I thank Allah for him yet again.

"Thank you", she says. "Besides, it wasn't untrue. It's partly true. Part of me does hate him, and he did do this to me."

She's with us for weeks, rarely coming up for air from her pottery. She continues to wear all black and eat little. I know sometimes transgender people can feel uncomfortable showing off their bodies to others, and for Alex in this state, it must be all the more confusing. But I also know my sister, and it's not like her to shut herself off and walk around like she's at a wake.

She has a pile of pottery just sitting around. She never stops making it for a second. I'm about to ask her if we can toss some of it when I see a big cup on a beautiful pedestal, entwined with the Urnes snakes, glazed bright green, they twist along the stem of the cup. The bowl of the cup itself is half pink, and half blue and reads "Baby's First Christmas."


	4. Chapter 4

Sam POV

I don't say anything. I let her know I'm back from my coffee meeting with Magnus, but don't say a word, just loudly take my jacket off and stomp through the room. The third time I walk through the room without offering any information, she growls.

"You're so annoying! Grr! Fine. How is he? How does he look? Is he upset?", she asks. Oh yeah, she hates him.

"He's devastated, sis. He wonders why you won't answer his texts or his calls. He wants to know what's wrong, and why you don't want to be with him. Oh, and Otis and Marvin send their love."

"Great", she rolls her eyes. She. Alex is usually female, but has not had one single male day in the last three months that she's been pregnant. Maybe she literally CAN'T be male or feel male right now.

Her lunch sits uneaten as she spins her pottery wheel, the clay growing ever higher into yet another vase.

"You have to eat. You're losing weight instead of gaining it; I hear you spinning that wheel all night long. You sleep for a few hours once the sun has come up. You can't continue this way", I comment.

To this, she pulls up her loose black sweatshirt. "I'm big", she corrects. It's true, she looks farther along than she is, but just in that one spot. The rest of her body is painfully thin.

"Eat, Alex! And rest, get some sleep. Or I swear I'll funnel feed you, and tie you to the bed!" She makes me furious sometimes.

"Kinky", she jokes.

"Argh! Allah forbid you have a daughter!"

"Hey, I'm sorry. I know this is like a sacred process to you, it's part of your faith, I get it, but it's just not that to me." She blows me off.

"Our father is great at lying to others, but none of us Lokisdottirs are very good at lying to ourselves", I spit.

"Ouch."

"Speaking of our father..."

She freezes. "He's out of the walnut isn't he? He's free?"

"Yes. You felt it?"

"Yeah."

"Me too. But Odin confirmed it. It's my next assignment", I sigh.

"Great, so what are we waiting for? Let's go..."

"You're not going anywhere. In fact, I don't know if I'm going anywhere. I don't know if our father is a greater threat to you if we go after him now, if that's what he wants us to do, or if we wait until the baby is born, and that's what he wants us to do...trying to second guess the God of Mischief...either way, it's no accident he escaped while you're pregnant. Neither was his warning to Magnus."

"So you've been planning and talking about all this—about me—behind me back?!", Alex shouts.

"I HAD to tell Odin, he's the All-Father, for all our safety, he has to know what's going on, Alex", I shout.

"Dammit, Sam!", she hisses, "You really don't understand the meaning of the word "secret", do ya sis?"

"It's Odin, OOO-din, he already knew", I insist.

"You talk about me with other people?" she barks.

"What choice do you leave me? You're not being honest with anyone. And your condition has a direct effect on this mission...we ALL need to talk about it."

"It doesn't affect anything! Just pretend I'm not pregnant...Do you talk about this with Magnus?!", she accuses.

"No, of course not. But I'll tell you this, you've had nearly three months to find a way to tell him, and you haven't moved an inch. And don't tell me you're still considering not having the baby because I know better. You have two more weeks to find a way to tell him...or I do." With that, I storm out of room.

I'm sitting in the living room later, when I hear and feel her enter the room, lingering in the doorway.

I shake my head and laugh.

"So...sis. I'm kind of...sorry, okay. I'm sorry", she says, "You have to try to understand how hard this is for me. Just when I'd thought I'd accepted the differences between what I feel about myself and how my body looks, something this enormous changes. I'm more confused than ever."

"I'm sorry too, I can't imagine", I say, because I can't.

"And you're right. I want this baby. I'm just...scared. Will this baby be okay with just me?"

I jump up to hug her. "This baby will be lucky to have you! They'll be surrounded by your goodness, your bravery, and will have me and Amir, and the gang, you know how much Mallory loves kids, and...his or her father."

"I will be a single parent, sis. But you're right, the baby will have more influences than me." She pats my shoulder.

"Why are you so determined to leave him out of this?", I ask.

"You know as well as I do if I hadn't kissed Magnus that day, he would have eventually wound up with a girl. A biological girl. He wasn't...you know what I'm saying. Us having fun is one thing. A permanent commitment? A child? It's asking too much of him." She sounds so certain. "It wouldn't last. And I couldn't lose him at that point; it's not fair to ask the baby to lose him."

"You're so sure."

"I am." She sounds strong, but unshed tears are in her voice.

"What you are is stubborn, sister of mine. I think you're right that Magnus would probably have ended up with a girl. And you are a girl! Most of the time anyway. So you keep telling us, and we believe you. I think Magnus is the type to not care about shallow stuff if he has feelings for someone. I don't think he fell in love with you because he was attracted to you, I think he's attracted to you because he loves you. And he's earned the right to be with you and this baby if that's his choice, and I KNOW it will be."

"You have no idea how badly I want that to be true", she says.

"Then don't write him off before you give him a chance", I insist.

"And I can do it in my own time?" she wheedles, squinting both the dark brown eye and the hazel one.

"You can. In exchange, you will eat and sleep", I tell her.

"Deal", she says too quickly. She was counting on me exchanging more time for her taking care of herself.

She resists me, but I make her keep her promise. I replace her cups of black coffee with chamomile tea with honey. At dinner, she puts away two veggie burgers with the works, a plate of steamed vegetables, and a piece of banana cream pie.

I tuck her in by midnight with blankets I bought just for her sensitive skin, "knitted faux fur" blankets from Pottery Barn (where else?) that are the softest things I ever felt. I hear her up again within an hour spinning that wheel, and put her back to bed. I didn't realize how exhausted I was from worrying about her until I wake up—thinking it's been about an hour, but seeing sun come under the black-out drapes in her room—knowing we slept ten hours back to back. Amir is standing over me, smiling.

"You're a good sister", he says.

"I try."

"You succeed. Though I don't know how you sleep next to that..."

Alex is snoring like a freight train.

"It's calling being exhausted."

"You have a meeting today?"

"Yes, the gang and Odin..." I say tenuously.

"Not gonna wake her up?" he asks.

"No way. She needs her rest and she can't be part of this right now."

"She'll be furious when she finds out all this is going on without her..."

"Furious, but alive and healthy. We have to keep her away from this for her sake, the baby's sake, and because of that warning from our dear father. You can't presume Loki is telling the truth, but you can't presume he's lying either. I owe her, you know that, if she hadn't taught me to embrace Loki's nature instead of fighting it, I never could have gotten away from him", I say.

I put on my hajib and grab my purse.

At Valhalla

When Magnus sees me, he literally runs over.

"How is she? Or he?"

"She. Okay. Asleep actually, which is good." I always get nervous these days when I talk to Magnus. I'm afraid I'm just going to break down and tell him the whole story because it's what I really want to do.

"Sam, please. Please tell me what's wrong. Is she really that furious I broke up with her? I understand, I was just trying to save her life..."

Sumberbrander is buzzing so hard, I can I hear it from here. Magnus takes off his pendant and it transforms into the always-impressive Sword of Summer.

"Seriously, Miss Al-Abbas, Senor has just not been the same since his little tiff with Alex. I'm afraid he's lost so much sleep, he can't wield me anymore..."

"Speaking of sleep, go back to it", Magnus orders the sword.

"Sheesh, try to help", the sword pouts, and transforms back into the rune pendant.

"She has to tell you this herself, Magnus. But when she does, please, please...think about your reaction first. Please don't let her down, I don't think she'd ever trust you again", I spit.

"How can I think of my reaction if I don't know what it is?! Now I have to know. What's wrong? Is she sick?!", he yells.

"Not sick. But this a big deal, and you have to understand that before she talks to you."

"WHEN is she going to talk to me?" He sounds like a desperate man. "This isn't fair, Sam." He runs his hands through his dirty blonde hair, a reminder Alex hasn't cut it in a while. "I mean, is this Loki's warning coming true?"

"I don't know the answer to that. I know it isn't fair", I sigh, "But you know Alex. She's going to do things her way in her time."

"I never should never have touched her", he wails, "I should have listened to him. I could feel what he was saying was true."

That's not good news. "Listen, you love Alex, and she loves you, becoming physical was inevitable. We'll fight this, we will..."

We can't talk anymore as the gang congregates at the Café 19 table.

"How's the dangerous girl with the garrote?" Gunderson asks, sitting down.

"Hanging in there."

"Still dressed for a funeral?", he asks.

"Yes", I answer, "Oh look, here they come." Distractions, good.

Odin's ravens—Thought and Memory- come through the window preparing the place for their boss. They sweep down and clean up the last of the breakfast left behind, and clear a chair for him.

The elevator dings loudly and the doors slide open.

"Lord Odin!" I bow, and everyone else does too, one by one.

"We didn't know if we should expect you", I say.

"This is serious, Samirah, as you well know." He sits, and so does everyone else.

"As Samirah may or may not have told you..." I shake my head "no". I get some dirty looks. "Loki is free from his bonds. He has escaped and we have reason to believe he has met with Surt. It's reasonable to presume he's made a deal with the demon. Rulership of Muspellheim in exchange for...something. But Loki doesn't want to rule a land of fire and demons. He has his eye on Asgard."

"What could Loki possibly offer Surt to make it worthwhile to the demon to turn over Muspellheim?" I ask.

"I don't know, Samirah, but something valuable. Something Surt wants very badly. And as his children, you and Alex need to be careful—especially right now", he says knowingly, "He will undoubtedly come to you for help to get what he wants. I don't believe he'll ever accept that he can't control you anymore."

"What's your plan, Lord Odin?"

"Reconnaissance. Samirah, take a few of the best fighters and stake out Surt. He's not as intelligent as Loki and won't be able to imagine that you'd actually come to him. Just observe him, I don't want anyone risking themselves, and bring back the details", he commands.

"You'll need me!" Halfborn volunteers, and sits next to me.

"Me too", Mallory says.

"You're not going anywhere without me", T.J. states.

"Whomever you take, don't forget that useful elf. Bring a rune master just in case", Odin advises, "And please tell he and the dwarf they're welcome here any time. They did help delay Ragnarok."

"Will do", I said with a nod.

"When do we leave?", Magnus asks.

"Not you. I have another task for you", Odin says. I can't help but notice Magnus starting to quiver.

"Er...for me, Sir?"

"Yes, Magnus Chase, son of Frey, you're going to be particularly important. In the wars to come."

For Magnus's part, he seems to be struck dumb, and stares at the All-Father open mouthed.

Boston

"I can't believe you didn't tell us!", Mallory exclaims.

"It felt like multiplying a burden", I answer.

"So how do we get to Muspellheim?", T.J. asks.

"Yggdrasil", Blitzen says. "We have to see that squirrel again." He shivers.

"I don't ever want to see that squirrel again as long as I live", Hearthstone signs. "Don't listen to him! He says the meanest stuff."

"We can get there through secret passages", Halfborn says.

"What passages? Me, Hearth, Sam, and Magnus got there the hard way on the World Tree", Blitz complains.

"Odin provided me with a special transport", I say. "Big Boy and some other eagles."

"Big Boy?! The only thing I want to see less than that squirrel is that giant!" Blitz yells.

"Calm down", Hearth signs, and Blitz throws him a dirty look.

"Speaking of our peace-loving sunshiny friend, where is Magnus? Why did Odin want to talk to him? What do you think your father really wants? Why does Alex need to be especially careful?" Mallory hurls a series of questions at me. Of course a woman would have grasped the subtle under current of my conversation with Odin.

"As Loki's kids, we both need to be careful", I say.

"Where is Alex?" she asks.

"Yeah, where has she been?", Haflborn seconds.

"She's resting."

"Resting? What's wrong with her?", Halfborn asks.

"Guys, please just let it go", I beg, but of course that just makes them more curious.

"We work really closely on really serious stuff, Sam", Mallory admonishes me, "There isn't room for lies."

"There is a difference between lying and keeping a secret. It isn't my secret to tell, so stop asking me, Mallory, I'm not going to answer", I say, sternly.

She looks askance.

"Let's respect that she can't tell", Hearth signs, as Amir brings up trays of food.

"Feels wrong to eat falafel without Magnus", Mallory complains again, and I roll my eyes as she lifts a patty of deep-fried chickpeas and flicks the grease onto a napkin.

"Amir, will you..."

"Wrap something up for your sister and take it to her? Yes." He bends down and we kiss, more of a display of affection than I've ever been comfortable with, but I need a distraction.

Halfborn lifts a lamb kabob above his mouth and bites a piece off the end of the stick. "Good meat, you're a good man", he declares, slapping his chest, while Mallory rolls her eyes.

"Thank you, Halfborn", Amir smiles indulgently.

A giant eagle soars closer. "Our ride is here, guys", T.J. observes.

"Be careful, Samirah", Amir advises with another kiss. The eagle has friends. Three total dip down and land around us. None of the mortals seem to notice, as always.

"How do you do that without anyone noticing you?", T.J. asks.

"They notice us, they think we're pigeons", one of them winks at him.

"Nice to see you again, little einheryar",Big Boy says, "Hop on, Muspellheim is allll the way at the bottom, near the roots, we got 8 other realms to get through."

"Since when do you serve Odin?", Mallory asks, suspiciously.

"Strange bedfellows, Miss Keen", he says, surprising her, "We don't want the end of the world any more than you do."

He lowers a wing, and I climb onto his back. Encouraged, the others follow suit, or jump on another eagle's back.

"Off we go", Big Boy winks, and we soar into the air and climb above the clouds.

"This is amazing, Mallory", yells, her armed outstretched.

"Mallory, sit still, we're about to pass into Jotunheim", I say. These eagles are efficient. But even I can't stop smiling soaring through the heavens.

Valhalla

Magnus POV

"You wanted to speak to me about something pretty important, Sir?"

"Have a seat", the King of the Gods commands and I do.

"Why does everything have to do with me?", I grumble.

He chuckles. "I know it seems that way, young man. But I need you for a task that doesn't usually fall to a young man. I don't know what I may need to sacrifice to protect the 9 worlds from my errant brother this time. The group will need a father figure. I want you to be him." If he'd hit me with a rubber chicken, he wouldn't have surprised me more. I root around in my pocket searching for comfort, but find no chocolate.

"Think of yourself as the glue that holds the team together", he adds.

"But you're the All-Father", I say. I mean, obviously. Great, Magnus, showing off your smarts like always.

"Glue comes in all shapes and sizes, young man. And for the record, I think you'll make quite a fine father." I don't know what he's getting at. With Odin, nothing is ever clear.

"Thank you, Sir", I say, "I...can't be one though. I mean, a father-father..."

"Are so sure..." he smirks, not meanly, but like a grandfather who knows something his grandson can't quite comprehend yet. "Son of Frey?"

"Y...yes. Pretty sure. I'm dead. I died." I hate talking about this, I hate thinking about it.

"You're not dead, Magnus, you did die, but now you're something other than mortal and only mortals can die. You're partially immortal. Difference."

"Uh...okay", I answer so eloquently. "Anyway...glue huh?"

"Yes. I heard everything you said in the flyting with Loki, how you feel about your friends, how you expressed yourself, and how they all protected you with their lives...you hold everyone together. But you're about to be tested, Magnus. Be strong. Be..."

"Like a dad?"

"Yes, Magnus", he smiles, "Like a dad." I don't know what on earth this is really about, but apparently he thinks he got his point across because he sends me back to my room. Where I can't help my friends.

Muspellheim

Sam POV

The gang and I creep into a stark white palace, hot and dry, and hide, looking for Surt. Well, Halfborn removes his shirt, fans himself with it, and hides.

The floor of the tall white palace seems to be made of fire-proof tiles, and the walls are sleek and white. It's so dry, just the thought of water can make you feel like you're dying of thirst, and so hot, it can make you long for AC in November.

Surt is standing on the other side of the room, beside his throne, iron crown on his head that looks like it's part of his anatomy.

"I don't trust the God of Mischief", he's saying to someone. "I want you to kill the mother while she's carrying it, or bring me the baby after it's born, whichever you can accomplish first. But no matter whether the grandfather cooperates or not, the child dies."

Surt steps to the side, revealing a smaller fire demon, who nods, and walks off. I have to kill Surt. I have to do this now. He's going to kill my sister, my niece or nephew. I can do this, I'm a Valkyrie. I CAN do this.

Mallory grabs my sleeve and pulls me away just before I'm seen. "I have to go back", I spit the moment we get outside. "I have to kill him now!"

Hearth starts signing frantically. The point is that Odin told us just to observe.

"Yeah, not up for fighting any fire demons today", Blitzen confirms.

"What is this about?", Mallory yells, "Why are we really here? Loki is a grandfather? Are you pregnant, Sam?"

"Congratulations! You're not showing", Halfborn observes. "He wants to kill you and your baby? We'll kill him first!"

"Yeah!", T.J. adds, lifting his 1981 Springfield over his head.

"No...I, no, I have to kill him. We have to kill him now", I say, desperate.

Mallory squints her eyes, and I know I'm toast.

"Wait a minute. You're not showing, you're not sick. Alex has been absent for months, she won't let anyone see her, she's sick, tired, she hides in your house...it's not you. Alex is pregnant." Mallory's face falls. She always wanted a child. This has to feel...ridiculously unfair to her.

"Honey...mead is to be drank by the glass, not the bottle", Halfborn laughs, "Alex can't be pregnant. I mean technically he's a he. And he's dead!"

"She!", I yell.

"Sorry, sorry, an accident, I mean she, she's dead", he corrects. "And he can't anyway...she can't...don't get mad at me, you know what I mean! Alex can't be pregnant."

"Tell that to the god of fertility", I say, wryly.

"It's Magnus. Magnus's side of the family", T.J. observes.

"I think it's both of them", I say. "I think it's the combination. But you weren't supposed to know! She's going to kill me! She wants to tell you herself. You can't let her know you know."

Halfborn nods, still confused, if well-meaning. Well, he is about 1,500 years old. "Deal."

Mallory glances at me and carves out my heart as a tear slides down her cheek. She walks away.

"Let's get out of here and report to Odin", T.J. says, sensibly. But I don't want to just leave. Surt is right there, within arm's reach. I could kill him now and keep them safe.

"C'mon!", T.J. reaches down and I take his hand. He pulls me up on the eagle, and instantly we're racing back to Asgard.


	5. Chapter 5

Sam POV

"It's the baby, my niece or nephew", I confirm, in Odin's secret office at Valhalla. "Surt wants the baby dead, and is willing to kill Alex to make it happen."

"The baby...very disturbing. Why on earth does Surt want a mortal, as we must presume it will be, child? I cannot imagine his motivation, but if he's willing to empower Loki in Muspellheim, it must be pretty important. This child will be a threat to Surt somehow. Very disturbing", he repeats. "Alex Fierro must move back into the Hotel Valhalla. I will set every protection in my power upon the building, and she will be surrounded by thousands of my finest warriors. I'll warn the other gods as well. And there's the father. Has she told him yet?"

"Uh, no, actually no..."

"As far as safety goes, it makes little difference, a son of Frey is no fighter", he pronounces, and I wince, even though it's common knowledge. Magnus is a nice fighter to have around sometimes. While early Scandinavian society most highly valued warriors, and so they treated the Aesir as deities, they also knew not everyone wanted to go kill people. Peace, love, joy, beauty, art, sex, the natural world, all that stuff existed too. The Vanir had their place as well. But there was no way the King of the Aesir was going to see it that way.

"I'll send Thor himself to sweep the building first, make sure no demons are hiding", Odin says, and I try not to show my disappointment. After Thor prevaricates and farts around Hotel Valhalla for hours, the warriors will have to do the sweep themselves.

"Perhaps Frey can offer comfort and advice to the boy though, and to Alex also", Odin observes, "It's a pity the ergi doesn't have a better support system, a helpful godly parent..."

"Uh, er, um, Lord Odin, Alex doesn't care for that term..."

"Parent?"

"Ergi or argr. It meant "unmanly" to the Vikings. And she does have a support system."

Odin waves me off. "Move her in in a few days. I'll send Thor tomorrow." Great.

Later.

"Sit down, Alex", I say, coming into her room.

"No good conversation ever started that way", she moans, crashing onto the bed.

"Dad went to meet Surt. They're after the baby..." Her hand flies protectively to her stomach.

"My baby?! Why?!"

"We don't know yet, but presume the baby is destined to be a threat to Surt, so he wants you both dead."

"And mom?", she asks. "Why is Loki involved?"

"Seems to be assisting him. I'm sorry, I'm..." She holds up a hand. "You okay?" I ask.

"Just processing that my parent has not only been willing to murder me in the past, but is willing to kill both me and his own grandchild..." She swallows. "Fine, they're coming. They're NOT getting my baby."

"They won't get either of you. Odin wants you to move back into the Hotel Valhalla..."

"But that's the first place they'll look!" she yells.

"Odin is putting special protections on the building, alerting everyone, and even the gods are keeping an eye on the place. Thor is going to sweep the building himself before you move in..."

"Well, it will smell great..."

"Alex..."

"I think I should go. Run. I mean...I can keep one step ahead of them, but hunkering down in the first place they'll look sounds suicidal to me..." she says, and I can see the green fire in her eyes.

"Sis, you're not alone anymore. You have all of us, the crew, and a thousand of Odin's best warriors, and the gods themselves. It's time to tell Magnus."

"F...", she whispers.

"Let's get you packed up today. Amir will take your pottery wheel back. We'll move you back into your room day after tomorrow", I tell her. At least it looks like she's been eating in my absence. Her body is changing a lot. It must be very confusing for her.

"Did you keep your doctor's appointment?", I ask. She looks away.

I hold open my arms and she walks into them.

Hotel Valhalla

By evening, Alex is moved in, and standing around in the hallway in loose black yoga pants and a big black sweatshirt, with a big black cardigan covering that. Our cohort, which knows all about her now, are keeping their distance.

"It's okay, don't lose your temper, give him room to be shocked, okay? Just keep calm for the baby's sake. I know he loves you..." I advise.

"Magnus", she calls out, swallowing hard.

He comes out of his room in a plaid flannel shirt and loose jeans, barefoot, long blonde hair hanging to his shoulders. He, on the other hand, has not been eating.

"Alex!" He rushes over to her, but stops short inches away. Clearly he wants to keep his head. "Are you okay? I've been so worried about you! You look..."

"Yeah, let's go in my room and talk", she says.

Hunding comes zooming around the corner. "Magnus Chase, you have a visitor. And Helgi says to tell you to tell your visitors not to come when it's so busy, we're still cleaning up from Thor messing around here, I mean doing a security sweep here, yesterday..."

No, no, no, bad timing.

"Hunding, tell his guest we'll be down in a bit...", I order.

"No can do, Miss Valkyrie, it's a girl...and she says it's an emergency."

"I better go", Magnus says.

"It can wait, Magnus", I instruct.

Alex wraps her arms and black cardigan tightly around herself, hiding as much as she can. "It's okay sis, clearly this is important to Magnus", she barks.

Magnus, who has as much experience with women as I do with launching the space shuttle, doesn't pick up on the charge on her comment.

"Great, thanks, I'll be back in a minute", he says.

"He's coming back", I assure her.

"Maybe he's seeing someone new", Alex comments, sweeping her verdant hair with major black roots out of her face.

For everyone's sake, this has to get settled between them. I take off after Magnus, and Alex follows me.

Magnus POV

I take the stairs two at a time, I have to get back to Alex. And yeah when Hunding said it was a woman, the idea of my mother flashed through my mind, like it always does.

A short, good-looking blonde is waiting impatiently.

"Annabeth!" I rush to her and throw my arms around her.

"Magnus!"

"What are you doing here?" I ask.

"I had to check with you to make sure everything is okay. Things are going crazy out there! The Roman emperors are becoming more violent. And we saw a fire demon, asking questions about Norse gods. Percy heard all about it from the cyclopes. If anyone would know about that, it's you", she says.

"I don't know anything about it, I'm sorry, I...am kind of out of the loop..." I say.

"Asking among demigods for somebody named Alex, I wondered...", she adds.

"WHAT?!" I yell.

"Magnus, I'm sorry..."

I stare at my cousin and wonder, for just a moment, if my life would have been easier if I'd loved someone simpler than Alex. A regular girl. So what would my life be then? Boring?

"It looks like I need to have a conversation with my cohort. I may have been left out of the conversation for like...months. Sometimes I feel like I got stuck in something I didn't sign up for. Anyway, I'll meet you in Boston tomorrow when I know more", I say, irritated. They've been keeping information from me and I'm going to find out why.

"I have to get back to Percy. I can't hang around, I'm sorry. Things are so bad, I just..."

We throw our arms around each other again. "Love you, cuz", she says, wiping her eyes on my shirt.

"Love you too", I say, holding her small warm frame against me. She heads out the front door.

I turn to see Alex and Sam watching us carefully. Alex looks...furious. Violent. She spins around and runs away.

"Wait, Alex, wait!" I run, crossing the distance between us in a few strides, and grab her. I must be suicidal.

She spins around, garrote in hand.

"Get the hell away from me! I can take care of myself, I can take care of this, I can protect myself, but not here! Not here! I'm leaving!"

"Alex, stop!" I grab her...she's... different. Her body is different. I let go from shock, but I see her register it as rejection.

"Yeah, I'm a freak, just let me go!"

"She can't leave the building!" Sam yells.

"I'd like to see you stop me, sis!"

"Your life is in danger, you stubborn fool!", Sam yells.

"Alex!" There are tears running down my cheeks and I grab anything I can to hold her here, to keep her in front of me. In this case, it's her hand.

"Stop! Tell me! Alex, tell me!"

"I'm pregnant!"

I stumble back, but manage to keep a hold on her hand. And then I scoop her up...and am grateful for my einherji strength because she's not the twig she was before.

I don't stop mumbling to her and kissing the top of her head. "It's going to be okay, it's going to be okay..."

We disappear alone into an elevator.

LATER.

Alex POV

"Three months!" he yells. "No one told me for three months!"

I nod, after telling him the full story.

"And you were going to run away! And risk your life and the baby's?! You're so stubborn! Do we know yet why Surt and Loki want the baby?" he asks. The way he's simply accepted that this is possible is almost mindboggling.

"No, not yet. Listen, this is more than you bargained for. I get it. You're still too young for this, to suddenly find out you're a father. Right now I have a target painted on me. Get as far away as you can. I can protect myself and the baby. Maybe I'll go back to my father's house. To protect the baby I'll try anything..." I start.

"Have you ever tried just being quiet?", he asks, clearly exhausted, and I feel bad, like knowing me has clearly worn him out. "It's late", he adds, "I'm exhausted. Let's go to bed."

"If you think for a second you're staying in here with me, you have another think coming..." I insist. Isn't that just like a guy?

"Arms up", he orders quietly.

"Magnus..."

"Do it", he says. I huff and puff, but take off the cardigan and pull the sweatshirt up over my head. I down pull my loose black yoga pants.

Beneath is my new body. As if I weren't confused enough. A belly that looks far too pregnant for three months. And now everything else is getting big too, I have hips, a butt, thighs...and breasts. None of which I had before, along with everything I did have before. It's...horrific I presume.

I look at Magnus and he's crying for the second time today. "You're so beautiful", he says, "Bless the gods, you're so beautiful."

He takes me in his arms, naked, and I...can't take it anymore. I erupt into sobs. Is he really accepting me? This child? This body? This confusion? Could he really?

He climbs into my bed, and pulls me down next to him, pulling those soft blankets Sam got me up to my chin.

"Shhh", he hushes against my ear as I scoot away. He scoots up behind me, spooning me, wrapping his arms tightly around me, my bottom flush against his groin. Though he's in pj pants, I can feel something pressing against me.

"Just leave me alone", I croak. It's not like me not to face things head on and...cut their heads off.

"Don't turn away from me now, please", he begs.

"This isn't what you signed on for. If you actually signed up for anything. I saw you. With Annabeth..."

"She's my cousin!"

"What I saw was a man attracted to women", I grumble. I will not cry, I will not cry. I cry.

"And what do you think you are?!", he booms, taking me by surprise. "Most of the time anyway. The rest of the time, I'm still wildly attracted to you. It doesn't matter. None of this ever mattered. It doesn't matter to me."

All I could hear was that none of this matters to him. I don't matter to him.

He cups my tummy, and while I try to suck in its blossoming roundness, between baby and falafels, there isn't much I can do about it.

"Stop that", he commands. I stop.

"You're my girl. And occasionally, you're my boy. But mostly you're my girl. My responsibility. And one I WANT. You're mine, that baby is mine. Mine. Do you hear me?" he insists.

"Way to go all dom on me, Chase", I snark, but nod.

"Never do that to me again! Never hide something from me, never run away...if something were to happen to you because you didn't trust me enough to tell me, I'd never forgive myself...promise me...", he insists.

"I promise, Chase, okay, give a girl a break."

"I will protect you both until the last breath leaves my body. I know we'll both...at Ragnarok. I can't think about it. Except that if the gods are half as good as they think they are, they will let me trade my life for yours when the time comes. I don't know what will happen to our child. That doesn't mean I give up. I choose not to give up. I choose you, Alex Fierro, and I always will."

I know he can feel me shaking, racked with silent sobs. I turn around to look at him. He wipes my eyes and kisses the tip of my nose.

"Who's the silvertongue now?" I snark. "Do you love me?" I ask. No jokes, no shields, no armor. I have to know the truth.

"How can you even ask that?", he smiles, "I love you. I adored you from the first moment I saw you. I was always so nervous around you. Heck, I would get excited if you'd say something like you'd be sorry if I was dead! Everything you said that wasn't harsh I hoped was something else. Some of the time I just hoped you weren't going to kill me yourself. And when I saw you in that wedding dress...well, I made a wish I'd see you in a gown like that again someday, but you'd be wearing it for me."

I know what it feels like to swallow the sun. I'm warm...all over. Warm and summery. "Now relax", he says, kissing my forehead. "Go to sleep." I could confess that I'd been seriously crushing on him from the moment I first saw him, but...eh, maybe later.

I roll back over, my bottom relaxed against his groin. I feel my shoulders sag and my entire body go soft. "That's it", he murmurs. "Mine, mine, mine", whispers, kissing the back of my neck between each word.

"I'm not going to stay relaxed for long, you keep that up", I joke. He wraps one arm around me tightly, holding me in place, the other hand he curves around my rounded belly. I won't be going anywhere without him knowing about it, even to the bathroom.

"Just...don't slip away in the night", I say. "Don't leave me. Please." I've never begged before. Not for anything.

"Never", he says. "I'll be here when you wake up. I'll love you when you wake up. I'll want you when you wake up. Now stop smirking like you've got me just where you want me."

"And stop saying you're trading your life for mine. You're not going anywhere without me, Chase, not in this world or the next, just FYI", I add.

He squeezes me tight. "We'll see."

"We'll see. But hopefully not for a few centuries. Millennia would be better."

"Millennia would be even better", he confirms, "I need a few thousand years to love you the way I want to."

In a flash, I feel my heart shatter into a thousand pieces, then come together again like molten metal, creating an organ that is better, stronger, fiercer than it ever was before and I feel strong, healthy, and healed. Every slight, every insult, every word, every time anyone stole my sense of self, rejected me, judged me, hated me...suddenly it all feels like it's in the past, a past that isn't important anymore. It feels like it's all behind me. What's important in life has his arms wrapped around me right now, and is growing inside me. My family. My father, Loki, my stepmother, they all seem so unimportant now. THIS is my family.

And it's so pleasant having the sun wrapped around me. I shiver.

"Cold?" he asks. "Wow, you are cold. What about you?" he asks the baby and puts his big warm hand flat on my stomach.

"Daddy will warm you up. It's going to be okay. Everything will be okay from now on."

And the girl who can't fall asleep, me, well I must have been out in seconds, exhausted. And I feel safe now for the first time in three months. And I know no one else could have done it, no number of Aesir, no number of swords and blades and spells, it was only the gentle, warm son of Frey who could have achieved it.


	6. Chapter 6

The bus door starts to close when a dark figure steps on the top step and blocks the door.

"You getting on, ah not? It's rainin, gonna be a wicked pissah out thah", the bus driver spits out in Boston slang, grateful to be headed home.

"Boooostinnn", the figure moans, body and head covered with a black hoodie.

"Yeah Bawstin...you getting on ah not? I can't leave the doah open all day...you need a ticket, ya got ya ticket?"

Eyes as red as flame set in a face of blackened, charred skin face the driver.

"Oh, ah, yeah, get on..."

The demon pulls up his hood and sits directly behind the driver, who closes the door.

Sam POV

I'm in a cave, surrounded by smoke and mist, but I recognize it almost instantly. The place where Loki spent so many years chained up, poison dripping in his face. I instantly know I'm dreaming, but that isn't a complete comfort.

"Hello, Samirah."

I turn to see Loki dressed in jeans and a baseball jersey. "What do you want?", I ask.

"Is that any way to greet your father?", he asks, crooking an eyebrow at me.

"You tried to kill me, you tried to kill Alex, and all my friends, and now you're trying to kill her again, and kill her child too. You're no father of mine", I spit.

"Don't believe everything you hear", he starts. "And I AM your father, Samirah. You'll see the resemblance sooner or later."

Odin was right. It didn't take long for dear old dad to come to me for what he wants.

"I would never harm my own flesh and blood...", he starts again.

"I remember when you ordered my heart to stop beating, my lungs to stop breathing...", I hiss.

Irritated, he waves me away. "Bygones", he says. "All parents and children have arguments. In fact, I've come to help you. I can't imagine how difficult this must be for you...YOU, a living breathing fertile woman, married for four years now, and no child...and your transgender sister, transgender DEAD sister, knocked up almost instantaneously...it must be...trying."

"What it is is wonderful, what I am is happy for her", I yell.

"Well, of course you are, you're a good sister. But...I know how much you want one of your own. I could...be of a small amount of help with that, you know. I've been both mother and father...both the impregnator and the pregnant. It's an amazing feeling, Samirah. Let me help you. Let me put a spell on you and Amir, just to help you conceive, nothing more."

"I want nothing from you!", I scream.

"Now I know you want this, Samirah..."

"Everything from you comes with a price."

"No price, no price, for my little girl. I just want your help keeping in touch with Alex and my new grandchild. She doesn't have your forgiving nature", he wheedles.

"You mean you want me to deliver my sister and her baby to you so you can deliver them to Surt in exchange for rule of Muspellheim..."

"You're very well informed, darling. But perhaps not as well informed as you think. I WILL rule Asgard one day, child, you know it's true, you know it's true. You can feel it. In your heart", he says.

The terrifying part is what he's saying sounds true.

"And the warning I gave to Magnus is real. This will cost her life, and unfortunately there's nothing I can do about that...I was only trying to warn them..."

"You mean it will cost her life after you turn her over to Surt!", I scream.

"You're becoming boring, dear. If you're not going to listen to me, I'm not going to waste my breath. But this is more complex than you think it is. If you won't accept my advice or my help, perhaps you'd give my grandchild a small gift from their loving grandfather..." He holds open his hand and a small stuffed snake sits in his palm. Suddenly it transforms into a real snake, a vibrant green one, and it leaps out his hand toward my face.

I scream, but don't reach for it, so it turns into bright green powder as the illusion shatters as it hits the floor.

"Sorry, sorry, I never can resist that joke", he says, howling with laughter. "You should have seen Thor's face...nevermind. Just think about what I said. For the child's wellbeing, for the child's potential, I need to know my grandchild", he says.

"You're nothing but a liar", I hiss.

He smirks hard. "Yes, Samirah, and you're nothing but honest. About how happy you are for Alex. No jealousy. No hard feelings." He blows green dust in my face. "I'm not the only liar in this family...sweetheart."

I sit up in bed with a gasp.

"Sam? Sam! What's wrong?", Amir asks. He knows by now I don't gasp in my sleep for no reason.

"Nothing, just a dream", I reassure him, and he rolls over.

Just a dream. There is no such thing where the gods are concerned, and I have no doubt I was really just in that cave with dear old dad.

It's shocking to me he thinks I could be manipulated so easily. That I would turn over my own flesh and blood to him and to Surt in exchange for his help. Which would turn out to be anything but, and have a million strings attached.

In fact, it's almost ridiculous. He had to know I would never do that. The words he said also sounded altogether too true, and suddenly I'm terrified for Alex. "This will cost her life."

Well I'm certainly not getting any more sleep tonight. I stare at the window until the sun comes up, then head to Valhalla.

Alex POV

I glance over at Magnus to find him sitting up, staring at me.

"Morning", he says.

"You're creepin me out...", I say, but it's too clearly a lie to finish the sentence. He's looking at me like...he loves me.

I know I look like a rumpled leprechaun right about now with three inches of black roots because I can't dye my hair. I pull the covers over my head. I have to tell him something.

"You need something?", he asks.

"No, I just wanted to make sure last night actually happened", I say.

"It happened", he confirms.

"Could I put my head on your belly?", he asks.

"Huh?" I know I'm making a face at him.

He doesn't wait for me to answer, but snuggles his cheek against my baby bump.

"Is the baby kicking? It would be just like my kid to kick me in the face", he jokes.

"Nah, nobody's kicking anything at 3 months", I say.

"Oh, well this is nice anyway."

"Magnus..."

"Yeah..."

"I have something to tell you..."

"This doesn't sound good", he says, "On a scale of 1 to 10..."

"I think the baby is like me", I blurt, and he sits up when he sees me crying.

"Alex! What's wrong? What do you mean?"

"I mean I keep trying to tell if the baby is a boy or a girl, to sense the gender you know, but sometimes I feel a male energy, and sometimes female, I think our baby is gender fluid too." My voice is squeaking.

"Oh Alex." He runs his hands through my hair. "You're usually so confident, this new you, a bundle of hormones, is confusing for me. Do you think I care if our child turns to be transgender? It's way too early to even think about gender, the baby isn't born yet, Alex, but if our child is transgender, I think it's great, they're lucky enough to have a parent who can help them. Most kids are nowhere near that lucky."

"Fuck", I whisper. "Why can't you be an asshole occasionally so we're closer to a matched set?"

He cuddles me and tucks my head under his chin. "You have to stop worrying. I know, I know, you're a mother, mothers worry, but try", he suggests.

"I want our baby to have your nature", I blurt. "Warm and kind. Not like me. Not guarded. Not...mean."

"I'm plenty guarded...you can't be too open on the street", he says, settling his head between my new breasts. "I want to spend the rest of our lives here. Don't call me until Ragnarok. Actually, don't call me at all."

A knock on the door.

"Nooooo..." he moans

"Everything okay in there?" Sam calls.

"We have to get up", he moans.

"We also need to meet with the gang", I confirm, "You're not the only one who's been left out of the loop. Of course, in all fairness, I left them out too. I need to know exactly what Sam knows about what Loki is planning."

"I'm jumping in the shower", he says, and runs away as fast as possible.

I throw on the leggings and sweatshirt I wear nearly every day and throw open the door.

"Well...good morning." Sam is waiting in the hallway, raising an eyebrow at me. "How did it go last night?"

"It went really...well actually..."

"You're back together?"

"Yesssss..."

"Oh thank the gods, I knew it, I knew Magnus would be okay with this eventually. He didn't pass out or anything he did?" she asks.

"No, actually he was completely in control of himself, he was...masterful actually", I observe, hearing the surprise in my own voice.

"I'm sorry, what? This is Magnus Chase we're talking about? Masterful?!" she asks.

"Yeah, I know, it was weird. But he was. He was almost...possessive."

"But you hate that", she observes.

"Usually, yeah, but last night it was nice. I felt...wanted."

"That's fantastic! Now what are we going to do about these clothes", she asks.

"Just because I feel comfortable with Magnus doesn't mean I feel comfortable revealing stuff to everybody.", I point out.

"I'm your sister!"

"I know, but it's just different with Magnus...I'm carrying his child. He's a part of me now. We could never be completely separate again", I say and can't stop smiling.

I watch her eyes as my hand travels to my stomach and her jaw clenches. "Hey, are you okay?", I ask, watching her dark brown eyes start to swim in unshed tears.

"Of course I am. Let's get to breakfast. Magnus will catch up."

At Café 19, everyone is sitting down and tucking into breakfast, but they all stop and look up when they see Sam and I coming.

"Hey, long time no see", Halfborn says. "Can we talk about this now? Is it out in the open now? Because I want to talk about this."

I crook an eyebrow at him.

"First, I think it's weird but cool, totally cool, that you and Magnus are having kids or whatever...and number two, if it's a boy, you have to name him after me", he offers.

"Not a chance, berserker", I inform him.

"Oh come on...Halfborn Chase! Or Halfborn Fierro! I'm a modern guy..."

Everyone cracks up.

"You're no fun. So where's the proud father?" he asks.

"In the shower. Next question?" Silence.

Mallory has snuck up on us slowly.

"I just want to say...congratulations", she says unsteadily.

"Thank you, I mean it." While I was trapped in my own emotions, I never imagined my cohort would have so many of their own about this.

"Change of subject. Surt. Loki. Why would do they want my baby?" I ask Sam pointedly.

"Our parent wants to trade the baby for rulership of Muspellheim", she says.

"That makes no sense. Why does Surt want the baby?"

"Odin thinks it's a prophecy, that the baby is destined to be harmful to Surt, possibly even slay him", she says.

"Good for you, baby, wow, I'm impressed", I say, rubbing my stomach. "Still doesn't make any sense though. It's a fiery barren wasteland, no one wants it, including Loki", I say.

"It's a stepping stone to Asgard. Or maybe the baby is...something Loki said..."

"You met with him?!" I yell.

"No, no, no, of course not. Sorry, I should have said. I had a dream last night, and he visited me. Said it was important for the baby's potential to know him", she says.

"Yeah, uh huh...our parent doesn't care who he hurts, and he's NOT getting a chance to hurt this baby", I state.

"Jaevla rett!", Halfborn yells out.

"Whaat?", T.J. asks.

"He said 'right'", Sam answers.

"Well, a little more than that", Mallory jokes.

"I think our best solution is just to get Loki back in the walnut", Mallory says, "Surt can't come to Asgard, he's powerless without Loki."

"Agreed", T.J. says.

"Because that was so easy the first time", Halfborn rolls his eyes.

"Not impossible", Mallory says, sneering at her love.

"You don't think he's gonna notice when we throw a nut at him again?", Halfborn snarks.

"We should just throw you at him!", Mallory yells.

"Now children...", Sam says, trying to calm them. "You're both right actually, we need to recapture Loki, but he'll never fall for the same thing twice."

"I think I should ask him to come talk to me", I say, shocking them all.

"Alex, it's too dangerous!", Sam yells.

Everyone mumbles their agreement.

"You're crazy", Halfborn adds. "He already tried to kill you once."

"Yes, but that's why it's the perfect plan. He wants this baby soooo badly...I don't think he could resist an invitation to meet with me, even if he did have suspicions. And I don't think we'll ever get him where we want him otherwise. You can have the whole thing set up wherever I meet him before we get there...capture him when he comes for me..."

Silence. It's dangerous, but a plan no one can argue with.

"NO WAY ON EARTH THAT IS EVER HAPPENING!" Well, almost no one. Magnus is out of the shower.


	7. Chapter 7

Alex POV

"Magnus, it's the perfect solution. Have Jack drop it in the "weapons grapevine" that I'm angry Loki is talking about me and the baby all the time, and I want to meet with him to give him a piece of my mind and tell him to leave me alone. He'll jump at the chance. He'll want to convince me to let him in my life, who knows, maybe he'll even try to kidnap me, but you'll all be there, including you, Magnus. Have Thor there, have all the gods there, have everybody there, but I have to be the bait."

"No. Nada. Never. Not gonna happen."

The gang trade looks. "She's right, Magnus", Mallory starts, "She's the only bait Loki will go for."

"She's not bait! She's my girlfriend!", Magnus yells. Magnus doesn't yell. He cajoles, he pouts, he influences...he doesn't yell.

"Hey." I put my hand on his arm.

"Sheesh", Mallory pouts.

"Honey, listen, I'll have plenty of protection..."

"No!", he yells again.

I narrow my eyes. "Are you somehow under the impression, Beantown, that because we're dating you can tell me what to do?" I bark.

"Dating is all we're doing? You're pregnant!", he keeps yelling.

"You still don't own me, Chase!", I yell back.

Everybody else backs off, even Sam.

"No, I don't own you, but your body is filled with hormones! You're not thinking straight, sweetheart. You don't know what's best for you right now!"

"Holy shit", Mallory mumbles under her breath, and both she and Sam back up out of my range. Gunderson is too silly to know better.

Magnus jumps when he sees me fingering my garrote. "You're the stupidest, most discriminatory, chauvinistic, male idiot in any of the nine worlds! Don't come knocking on my door tonight!", I scream, and head for my room before I really do chop his head off.

"What? What did I say?", I hear him ask.

Magnus POV

"'You're not in your right mind, sweetheart'", Mallory mocks. "Magus, I thought you weren't this dumb anymore."

"Oh man, I screwed up huh?", I ask. I made her feel bad. I was...not evolved. I was insulting.

Sam puts her hand on my arm. "If you have one thing going for you, Chase, it's the purity of your honesty and that you admit you're wrong fast. She'll forgive you. And part of the reason she's so angry is because you're kinda right about the hormones, but if you tell her I said that, I'll deny every word."

"I love her, I don't want her to get hurt", I insist.

"It would have been better to say that", Halfborn offers, after the fact, stuffing his face with a taco.

"Thanks so much!", I yell again, "Half the time I don't know what to do or say. I'm responsible for all this yet I have no say in it!"

"Please go tell her that, Magnus, but calmly", Sam responds, like the mother she seems to be to everyone.

I shuffle off to Alex's room and knock on the door.

"Stay away!", she shouts.

"Please let me come in. I'm sorry! I don't know what to say anymore."

Nothing.

"I love you, and I word it badly sometimes..." That gets the door open.

"What do you want, Magnus?", she fumes in my face.

"I'm sorry! This is really hard for me, and I know it's harder for you, I've just never done this before. I feel like I'm responsible for you and the baby, but I have no say in what happens to you. I would rather die...again... than lose you, does any part of you understand that?" I wish I could rewind the clock ten minutes, I wish I could think before I speak, I wish...

I could think at all. But I can't with Alex's lips pressed firmly to mine. "Yes, I understand that, and I love you for it, and yes, you have say. I just think this is the only way to catch him. And catching him will make us safe", she insists.

"In my arms, you're safe. With all of Asgard watching you, you're safe. You're not safe any other way, you're not safe meeting Loki, I'm sorry, there is no "safe" with him. Think about it a second, don't you think he'll know we would never let you meet him alone? Don't you think he'll know we're all watching, and have something up his sleeve? I don't think we can take the god of mischief by surprise."

"You're probably right", she concedes, "I just can't think of any other way to capture him."

"You're probably right", I concede back, "But that doesn't make capturing him worth the risk. The rest of them can take care of themselves. You're the one I'm worried about...both of you."

I pick her up and carry her to bed. I don't want to talk about this. I want her closer to me.

"You have to be less good at this, Magnus", she moans as I lay her down the bed and kiss down her neck. "I find myself agreeing to anything you say."

"I like that", I tell her.

"Hah!", she laughs.

"So..." I kiss down her chest, her belly, "So how far along are we?"

"Ummm, for your own safety, Magnus, why are we asking this?", she questions.

"Because if you're four months, you can get an ultrasound. You NEED to go to the doctor. I understand you can't go to a regular one..."

"Magus, stop."

"No. You need to go. I want to know what's happening, and you know you do too."

"I'll go if you relax about meeting my mom...", she taunts.

"Alex!"

"Grrrr... okay you're right", she groans.

"Really? I need you to repeat that...I need you to write that down...", I say, and she jumps on me, pinning me to the bed, laughing.

Two weeks later, Doctor Skoge's Office

"I hate this, I hate this, I hate this, I hate this...", is Alex's refrain as she (still she) sits on the table in a see-through gown, open to the front, that she's clutching around her.

"I know", I tell her, putting my arm around her and rubbing her back. "It will be over soon."

"You're sooo warm", she says, leaning into my hand and for a moment. I think she may have calmed down, but she jumps as the door opens.

Our doctor is a Vietnam vet killed in the line of duty while treating patients near the battlefield. The scalpels in his hands served as blades. He's the best, or so Sam tells us Odin told her.

He holds out his hand, but Alex is worrying the handles of her garrote.

"Um, there are no deadly weapons allowed in exam rooms", the doctor says.

"It makes her feel safe", I offer.

"Her", he comments, slightly confused.

I step in before Alex loses her temper. "Yes, I believe Samirah Al-Abbas told you about us..."

"Oh yes right! I remember. So interesting circumstances in which to find yourself pregnant...", he begins. Alex looks daggers through him and he shuts up.

"Yep, bet you don't see too many pregnancies among the undead", I offer, with an awkward laugh.

"I'm not a fucking zombie, Magnus!", Alex barks.

"So anyway, just lie back, and we'll get started here", the doctor says. He opens her gown and she lays flat. I grab her hand.

"This is going to be a little cold", he warns squirting blue gel on her tummy. She jumps.

He moves the device around. "Okay, there we go", he says, but I don't see anything but a confusing mix of what's inside Alex on the screen. I can't tell a fetus from a kidney.

Alex is searching the screen furiously, looking as hard as she can.

"Oh wow", the doctor says, "Okay, wow."

"What?!", Alex cries. "What the hell does "okay wow" mean?"

"Calm down", I tell her.

"Sorry", the doctor offers.

"Can you tell the...physical...gender?", she asks, her voice shaking. I squeeze her hand harder. "I've been trying to sense it, but I keep getting different things..."

"There's a reason for that", the doctor says, grinning madly, "And a reason you look farther along than you are. You're having twins! A boy and a girl from what I can see."

"Twins!?", she gasps. "They do run in Magnus's family. Magnus? Magnus? Magnus?!" It's the last thing I hear.

I wake up lying on a table next to her, completely embarrassed.

"Not an uncommon reaction", the doctor laughs. "Fathers faint all the time."

I hop off the table and throw my arms around her. "Twins! I love you!", I can't contain myself.

She's crying softly. "I love you too. It's going to be okay, right?"

"It's going to be amazing", I tell her, holding her tight.

"See, one there, and another one...see, you can tell that's a boy...", the doctor points out.

"How will that change things? I mean, I still don't know how I'm going to give birth..." She sounds tiny and terrified. It breaks my heart.

"I don't know how either", the doctor shrugs, "It's a medical mystery right now, but if the gods made this happen, we have to believe they'll see it through, that there's a reason for this. Wait a second..." He sniffs her.

"Excuse me?", she barks, instantly back to her old self.

"Are you part...giant? Jotun?", he asks.

"Yes", she sighs.

"Should have told me that, and should have come in four months ago. I don't know that you should continue this pregnancy...it's dangerous for you. The babies' blood type may not be compatible with your own...", the doctor says.

If hearts can freeze and break immediately, that's us right now. We were soaring, we were thrilled, now...she shouldn't continue the pregnancy?

"Oh gods, no", I cry out, always the more obviously emotional of the two of us. She's frozen in silence. "How bad is it? Do we need to..."

"It doesn't matter if we need to, because I'm not going to. I'll be fine", she offers.

"Ms. Mr. Fierro...Alex", the doctor stumbles, "I recommend you think hard about this. I'm sooo incredibly sorry, but it's too dangerous for you to continue this pregnancy."

She's shaking, tears streaming down her face. "I've come this far fine. I'll be fine."

"Alex, I want this too, but if your life is in danger...", I start, but she waves me off.

"I have Magnus. He'll bring me right in if anything goes wrong", she says "Please Magnus, we can't disagree on this, please, please, be on my side."

I've never heard her beg before, and it chills me to the bone.

"I'm always on your side", I say, kissing the top of her black and green head a million times.

"This is against my advice, but if you insist on continuing, I want you in here every week", the doctor insists. "I'll need to keep close tabs on how you and the babies are doing."

"Done", I answer immediately before she can disagree. "I promise she'll be here."

Later.

We're sitting at Amir's restaurant in the transportation building waiting for the crew, to discuss the ultrasound and what to do about Loki.

"Magnus, please...", she starts.

"I know what you're going to ask", I interrupt, "But we can't keep it a secret. We're a team and everything we do affects everyone else. We have to tell them your pregnancy is...troubled."

"Troubled?" A tear rolls down her cheek and I wipe it away.

"What the hell does he know, right?", she adds, "Does he know me? No. Does he know what I'm capable of? No. Doctors are always overly cautious."

I want to agree with her, but Loki's warning keeps circling in my head.

I've changed my mind about one thing. Maybe it is a good idea to meet with Alex's dear darling mother.

"I think you should meet with Loki", I tell her.

"Really?!" Her jaw falls open.

Alex may have her mind made up, but I haven't. I need to ask the god of mischief a few questions of my own about the person I love more than my own life. Questions only he knows the answers to.


	8. Chapter 8

Alex POV

Two weeks and seven conversations with Asgard later, I'm meeting my mother at the Copley Place Mall. Right in front of Santa, very busy, very touristy. I told Loki I only felt comfortable meeting him in a public place. Of course I know that no number of shoppers or tourists are ever going to stop him, but this is all about making him comfortable enough to show, not me.

Discussion after discussion with Asgard. Odin was most interested in getting information about how Loki was going to strike at Asgard, but when he suggested that if Loki kidnapped me, I may want to go along with it to get more info, Sam had to drag Magnus out of the All-Father's presence to keep my boyfriend from telling Odin to go to Helheim. Odin is in Asgard with his army right now, ready in case Loki were to decide to strike today.

Thor is on the premises, hiding. He's supposed to be focused on me, but he seems to be trying on a jacket in Abercrombie. Tyr and T.J. are with him, partially to defend me, partially to try to keep each other from issuing Loki any challenges.

Blitzen is in Armani, across the way from Abercrombie, rolling his eyes at Thor, while Hearth keeps pointing to me and scolding him in ASL.

Magnus is sitting on a bench with me, holding my hand. He will step to the side when my mother appears. We knew Loki would never believe that I came alone, so we're hoping to convince him I have only other person with me.

A tall, thin man with reddish brown hair approaches wearing a Sox jersey. His face is heavily scarred in the daytime light. He stops directly in front of me.

He nods his head to me, then Magnus. "Alex...Mango Cheese...nice to see you both again."

He can't keep his eyes off my baby bump.

"You're getting big, Alex, that's my girl", he says, smiling pleasantly if he's merely meeting his beloved pregnant daughter for some shopping and a bad salad at the food court.

"MY girl", Magnus corrects, squeezing my hand.

"Tell ya what, Mango, why don't you go to Sbarro on me..." Loki extracts a few bills from his wallet and hands them to me. "And let me and my daughter? Son? Daughter? Son? Speak."

"I'm pregnant...MOM", I hiss. He laughs.

"Touché", Loki says, "Let me talk to my daughter alone."

"I won't be far", he says. Magnus and I have this all pre-arranged. It will look like he's distracted buying food, but we have a look-alike in line, while Magnus doubles back and hides within a few feet of me.

"Yes, go", Loki confirms dismissively.

"Alex...", he looks me over head to foot. "We have so much in common you know, darling, and not just being gender fluid, we both want what's best for our child."

"Cut the crap, mom", I say, hands on my hips.

"Oh yes, we have quite a lot in common. Like a temper."

"What do you want? Why do keep asking questions about me?", I ask.

"I've seen the error of my ways." From anyone else, his words would sound suspicious, ridiculous even. But out of the mouth of best silvertongue in the Nine Realms, he sounds downright sincere. "I just want to be a part in your life, and in my grandchild's life, that's all. I want the opportunity to love you, that's all." He practically bats his eyelashes.

"I know you plan to hand the baby over to Surt in exchange for Muspellheim, so you might as well quit lying", I say, "And I know Muspellheim is nothing but a fiery stepping stone for you on the way to taking control of Asgard."

"You've been talking to your sister", he confirms. "But think about it a minute, Alex, you were always the smart one", he flatters, "For Sam, everything is so black and white. It's part of her faith. Do you really think I would give away my grandchild for Muspellheim, which no one even wants? I will trick Surt into thinking I'm giving him the baby, then I'll hand the rug rat right back to you, pinky swear", he grins.

I sigh, and rub the spot between my eyes. This was a mistake. Trying to toy with the man who toys with people for his daily amusement was a dumb idea. Magnus was right. Magnus is often right these days, which just pisses me off more.

"You will NEVER get my children!" I grit out. "You were the worst parent in all nine worlds! Where were you when my father threw me out, literally? When I was being beaten and nearly raped on the streets? Go away, Loki, I don't need you, no one is better off for knowing you."

He looks hurt. And a hurt Loki is a very dangerous one. "Children", he muses, and I gasp. Shit.

"You've been withholding information, and so has your sister. Twins. No wonder they're so powerful..."

"Powerful?!", I yell. "They're babies. They're not even...they're not even born yet."

I see Magnus and he knows that this is a lost cause. I've lost my temper and I'm talking too much. I need to get out of here.

"Yes, little girl-boy, powerful, something you're not. You say you won't let me have them, but you won't be around to decide", he hisses, taking out his hurt like he always does, on those closest to him. "No Jotun or part Jotun has survived childbirth with a human demigod's child...ever. And you won't be the first, my dear. Look at you...so tiny and frail. You're clearly carrying twins, I should have guessed, but every other part of you is frail. You look like you're wasting away. Do you eat?" He cackles with laughter. "I'll take them when you're not around to have a say. You can either terminate, which I won't allow because they're too powerful and useful to me, or die...those are your options. You are, as always, as your father and stepmother always believed...expendable."

Pain and terror shoot through my body. "You will never get my children, Magnus will protect them", I cry, sobbing.

"Mango Cheese is going to stop a god from getting what he wants? Go away, Alex. I doubt I'll ever see you again. But I WILL see those kids. I guarantee it", he hisses, and turns away. "Thank you by the way", he continues, "For creating the means to get me Asgard. Maybe I'll take your kids at the funeral...as a woman in a red dress. That was how I met your daddy. Now that would be amusing." He leaves.

Magnus grabs me as I start to slide to the floor. "The babies...he plans to take our..." Blackness.

Later.

We all sit around Café 19, the cohort in silence over the news.

"I don't see how we can protect them", I say, trying to be strong. "Maybe the moment they're born, they should go to Odin in Asgard. Be raised by him...the gods already consider me a complete failure for spilling the beans about the twins."

Magnus visibly jumps and looks at me like I sold him to the Nazis for a pair of stockings and a Hershey bar.

"Baby, I'm sorry, but they need a god to protect them from a god...I'm trying to save our flesh and blood, our future..." I can't stop crying.

"He won't get those kids", Gunderson swears.

"No fucking way!", Mallory hisses.

"I'll do everything in my power", my sister offers, "They would be happy with me and Amir, but...I refuse to talk about this like it's done. We will save you! We will."

"Damn straight", Gunderson adds.

Magnus is silent. Then a boom.

"Shit!", Mallory yells.

Magnus has punched a hole in the wall. My sweet, innocent, sunshiny Magnus. Gods.

"I was never able to do that", Gunderson says, in awe.

"You're NOT going to die!", Magnus screams, "He will NOT get the twins!" He gathers me in his arms, tears dripping down his face, and soon we're both sobbing.

"I can't watch this", I hear Mallory whisper, wiping away a tear, and Gunderson holds her.

"And EAT something for the sake of the gods!", Magnus yells. And we both start laughing. "No more black, no more sadness. Everybody said I couldn't stop Ragnarock and I did. I did."

"Hey pal...", Gunderson starts.

"Not alone", Magnus amends, "But we're not going to let him get to us. We'll just make sure you don't go anywhere when you're near delivery. No one can actually die in Valhalla. Right guys?"

"Absolutely!" "Yes!" "Hell yes, why didn't I think of that?" ring out.

He wipes away my tears. My sunshiny son of the god Frey. So warm and sweet and hopeful. He's had tough times, yes, but he's never had to hope the cloud had a silver lining, he's never had a cloud in his sky. Except his mother. I forgot about that. Oh shit, I forgot how he lost the only woman he loved once already.

"I love you", Magnus whispers in my ear. "He doesn't know everything, just darkness, just hate, and that's not everything in the universe, it's just NOT."

We hold each other.

"I had an idea..." he starts.

"What...did it get lonely and leave?", I ask.

He shakes his head. "My Alex. Always the same. I think it's time to order a pizza and get you out of black!"

Three Months Later

Magnus POV

I open my eyes to find Alex staring at me. One brown eye, one hazel one, big, open, and staring. It can't be more than six in the morning.

"I thought you'd never open those baby blues", he...no still she...insists.

"What's up?" I ask sleepily. She may have slept like a rock, but I didn't. I was too scared of waking her to move all night.

"I have to talk to you about something."

"Now?"

"Yes, Magnus. Now. I'm concerned about something."

"Okay, what?" I ask.

"I'm fat."

"You're certainly getting there", I say with a sleepy yawn and roll over. I can feel myself hovering between the waking and sleeping worlds. Ah, so pleasant...fadddding out.

WHACK! I'm fully in this world trying to figure out why my head is ringing like a bell. When I stop seeing double, Alex is straddling me, the ceramic pot she made, and bashed over my head, still in her hands.

"Oww!" I yell, "What was that for?"

WHACK! "Ow!" I hold my head until my vision clears.

"You called me fat!", she howls like a demon.

"I did not! You did."

WHACK! "Ow, stop!"

"You are such a...such a...GUY, Magnus Chase. You never, ever, ever, tell a pregnant woman she's fat! If she says she's fat, you disagree with her!", she howls.

"I said no such thing!"

She raises the pot again.

"That's enough of that!" I yell, trying to snatch it out of her hands, but she's always been faster than me.

WHACK!

"Hey!" yell, tackling her onto her back. She kicks me in the stomach and I think I'm going to bring up everything I ate...ever.

"Stop!" I pin her arms to the bed. "For goodness sakes, you only started filling out two months ago! You look beautiful! You're gorgeous, you're glowing! And yes everything is getting bigger..."

She raises the pot again, but hesitates.

"In a good way", I say, kissing down her neck, then seizing first one nipple in my mouth, then the other. "Like these..."

"Stop it, you're bad, you're...oh, oooooh, that's...nice", she moans. The ceramic pot slips out of her hands and crashes to the floor, where it shatters. Thank the gods for that.

I kiss down her chest, down to her belly. "And this. You're so feminine. You look...even more beautiful than you did before. More beautiful than you did the day your father tried to marry Sam off. I want you all the time now, constantly, I can't think about anything else, and I don't know how you feel about it, or if I can...have you that way again..."

She puts her fingers over my lips, smirking. Part of me wants to smack her. A very small part.

"You can have me again", she says. I guess I am a guy because I have her on her side in seconds.

She moans as I push slowly deeper inside her.

"Mmmmmm", she moans, scooting back, "You're such a goofball, you're such a screwup, but there are a few things you're soooo good at."

I reach around to play, softly and slowly. She moans, "Oh, yeah, right there, right there baby, oh gods, Magnus. I love you."

"I love you too", I murmur kissing the back of her verdant hair.

She turns half-way around and gently kisses me on the lips. She kisses me again and whispers. "Cum for me, Magnus, cum inside me. I want to be warm all over. I want to be filled to the brim with sunshine."

"I worship you", I gush, moving harder against her.

"I know", she smirks.

A few hours later, the bed is empty, and I quickly throw on some clothes to see if she's at breakfast.

Sure enough, she's there. I proudly watch her finishing off her second breakfast burrito at Café 19.

"So I guess you two aren't fighting anymore?", Halfborn winks.

"That's just shows what you know, Halfborn Gunderson, we were never fighting", Alex corrects. "We don't fight."

"Could have fooled us, sister", Sam says, smirking.

"Hush now, Samirah, someone will think you're serious", Alex says and I shake my head at Sam. She changes by that minute that girl of mine.

I walk up to order a falafel while Sam and Alex chit chat, and return to sit down next to her.

Apparently she FINALLY took my advice because Alex makes a big show of standing up while I'm watching, and reveals she's wearing bright pink jeans and a tight, form-fitting lime green sweater that shows off and emphasizes every bump and curve.

Several jaws hit the floor. "My, my, you're looking pleasantly plump", Sam gushes, throwing her arms around her sister.

"I am, aren't I?', Alex asks rhetorically. "And only 6 months! I think this means the babies are big. Closer to Magnus's size."

"Our son very well may be", I add. I want to tear off every stitch she's wearing.

"Our _daughter_ might be", she says. I grab her and squeeze her, burying my head in her middle. Alex doesn't try in the least to hide how thrilled she is. "Hey don't embarrass me, we're not alone", she says, but how thrilled she is with the attention fills her voice.

"Oh gods, so sweet", Mallory comments, choking back tears.

"Oh for goodness sake", Halfborn argues.

"What a difference a day makes", I say, holding Alex close to me, ignoring everyone else.

She pushes me away and poses as if she's about to head down the runway. "Well, as much I may hate it, you are right occasionally, Magnus. And in this case, you're right. I do look absolutely fabulous pregnant."

"I'm glad you're pleased with yourself", I say, "And you're right, you do. You're going to make a wonderful mother."

Before I can blink, I'm plundering her mouth, my hands running wildly over my gender-fluid girlfriend's bod.

"And will you love me when I'm 9 months?", she whispers.

"I will worship the ground that cracks and crumbles beneath your feet", I say.

"That's twice now!" she objects, but I can tell she's not mad.

"I love you, and I can't wait to meet our children. I can't wait to meet Alex's children", I say, wrapping my arms around her.

"You're so lucky", Mallory say, bursting into tears. She runs off fast, dropping her tray on her way from the table.

"Now look what you've done", Halfborn says, irritated, and he jumps up to go after her, but Sam stops him.

"I'll go get her. As a woman, I understand this better you do", she says. "She always wanted this, it's just..."

"I'm sorry", I say, but the person primarily injured by our joy isn't here anymore.

"Hey, you have every right to be happy and every right to show it", T.J. says. "Just like she has every right to feel hurt by it. Sometimes life isn't fair. Nobody knows life isn't fair quite like einherjar. She'll be okay."

I pull Alex onto my lap. "It's never my intention to hurt her. Mallory is family." I know it's a lame excuse, but we're excited, just like any other expectant parents right now, even if we don't look like every other couple.

"Not mine either", Alex add. "Mallory is like a sister to me. I think it's terrible...what was done to all of us. And that she can't...it's terrible. But it's not easy to hide any of this."

"And you shouldn't have to", Sam says. "Just be...compassionate and discreet. We all understand how excited you are. I can't wait to be an aunt!"

I'm worried about the whole thing of course, especially after Loki's words, which we've all tried to push from our heads over the last couple of months. Like trying not to think about it will make it go away. I try so hard not to think about it. Sam rubs my arm. "I know you're worried, Magnus. You have to believe that since the gods made this happen, they can make it work out."

"He's more worried than I am", Alex confirms, "And I'm the one giving birth!"

"We just don't biologically, anatomically, know how this is going to work", I say, so eruditely. Ladies and gentleman, I give you Magnus Chase, doctor in training.

"Well it's gotta come out somewhere, doesn't it?" Gunderson asks, making a horrified face.

"Call our children "it" one more time", Alex threatens.

"Honey, stop", I tell her, rubbing her shoulder, "He doesn't mean it that way."

"Are you seriously "honey-ing" me right now?"

"Sorry, Alex", I blush. "Our kids are not an "it", Halfborn, they'll be as perfect and brilliant as their mother."

"Nice save." Alex rolls her eyes.

"I'm off", I say, cleaning up the remnants of my falafel.

"Where to?", Sam asks.

"He's going to see his father", Alex offers.

"Yes, we've already heard quite enough from Loki. I think it's my godly parent's turn for some input."


	9. Chapter 9

Jotunheim

Mallory POV

"Operation End of Mischief is a go", crackles over the walkie talkie.

"Do we have to do the whole "action movie one-liners thing"? I ask, rolling my eyes.

"Yes", Halfborn insists. "I never got to talk that way in my human life, but I AM a warrior."

I roll my eyes again.

Halfborn, Blitzen, Hearth, and I have come to Jotunheim looking for Loki. He's not in Asgard or Muspellheim, so where else would he be?

Magnus and Alex don't know we're here. Neither does Sam, who quite frankly would be useful on a mission like this, I mean the girl can force water horses to her will, but she'd end up telling her sister. We also don't know if she might try to stop us. None of us want to lose Alex. Or to have to live with Magnus for the next however many centuries until Ragnarock if he loses her.

We know he sneaks into Midgard to drink. We know he's been neglecting Chase Place. We know he's spent hours in the 50th floor library trying to find books on how to kill a god, which Odin culled from Valhalla hundreds of years ago for his own reasons. He quietly suffers while he supports Alex any way he can.

I have issues. Let's be honest. So does my boyfriend. But Magnus is another story. For Halfborn and I...well, we've both done what we had to do. My boyfriend killed more people with Ivar the Boneless in 850 than he can count. I took lives with the IRA in the 1970's, not proud of it, but it happened. We're both, for lack of a better term, "comfortable" with killing. It's not right to watch the most innocent person any of us have ever known struggle with finding the right thing to do. Sometimes you have to do the most expedient thing. And whether Magnus or Sam like it, sometimes you just have to close your eyes and do what needs to be done. We're here to assassinate Loki, and no one is going to stop us.

Vanaheim

Magnus POV

"Magnus?"

I find myself caught up in sweet-smelling female arms. My gorgeous aunt, who officially now looks younger than I do thanks to stress, is smiling at me.

"I'm so happy to see you again. And I'm so sorry for the circumstances. Your father is so excited to see you", she squeals.

"Thank you, Aunt Freya", I say, hugging her back. As the goddess of love, beauty, and sex (and a nice piece of jewelry), my aunt will be an eternal 25-year old Victoria's Secret model. She looks like those Swedish bikini team girls from the beer commercials that played when my mother was a kid.

"Magnus!" Next, I my embrace my father, her twin, the god of summer, warmth, healing, and fertility. With dishwater blonde hair and cornflower blue eyes, wearing tight jeans, and a tshirt with pricey hiking books, he looks like a model from the June LL Bean catalog.

"Jack?", he asks.

"At Valhalla. I preferred he watch over Alex", I offer, and Frey nods.

"So twins", he says, "Runs in the family."

"Yep." I nod. "We agreed we're not doing two names with the same letter though. No Frey and Freya", I laugh, "Or Luke and Leia."

"Who?", he asks, confused.

"Uh...not important", I say.

"I'm so sorry", he continues, "I should have warned you, but I had no idea that particular gift would be so strong in a second generation. And the pregnant person is...a male? That's quite remarkable, Magnus..."

"Alex is transgender and gender fluid", I correct, "So male is only a small part of the story. And it's okay, dad, the pregnancy is okay, we've adjusted, we're thrilled actually. But...Alex is Loki's kid, so she's part Jotun..."

"Yes, I heard", he winces. " _Loki's_ kid, I mean, Magnus, maybe someone else...this isn't destined to end well."

"I love her, dad. I'm here to find out how to save her", I say.

He puts his hand on my shoulder. "I'm so sorry, pal, I don't think I can help you. I don't think anyone can."

My stomach sinks straight to the floor. "You were my only hope", I admit. "I've never asked you for anything. I never ask anyone for anything, any godly favors, but...I NEED this. I need help saving Alex and my kids. Loki says she'll die, and he'll kidnap them. I won't let any of that happen."

"Tell me about her", my dad says, smiling sadly.

"My daily prayer to Asgard is that she's happy. Yes, an atheist prays. I've met all you gods and still don't believe you're really "god gods", but I also can't stop asking someone to help me because this just feels too big. So I pray that my children are born healthy and unlike my childhood, their parents live long enough to give them everything they need, and I pray that Alex is strong and healthy, and that I make her happy. Whether that's true or not...Alex has always kept me on my toes." I sigh, and I know Frey is looking concerned as I rub the spot between my eyes. "I spend every moment trying to understand her...you would think it would get annoying, but it never does. It might actually be working though...she giggles now. Giggles. Seriously. The girl who cut my head off the first moment she met me now giggles."

Speaking of which, my father appears to be laughing. Nice.

"Magnus, you sound...like a man. A grown-up. You have real responsibilities. In all my godly years, I have occasionally wished to be less...I have wished to be mortal. When I met your mother. I have never ever felt jealous though...until now."

"Don't be", say, wiping away tears, "It may not last very long for me. And listen, Dad, I know this may not be the type of relationship you envisioned for me, or even one that you understand, but I want to thank you for being so accepting...", I start.

"Really, Magnus? I'm a god. I've had literally thousands of years to mature and understand the human condition. Do you think I care that your wife is gender transgender? I'm more concerned that she's Loki's."

"Wife?" Then it dawns on me. That's what I forgot. "Oh man, I should be married to Alex, shouldn't I? Before the babies come. Maybe she's expecting me to ask...oh Dad, I think I screwed this up."

"You didn't screw anything up, son. I loved your mother...I know it seems as if I couldn't have, but I did. I still do. Natalie was...is...an amazing woman. I would have loved being married to her", he says.

I can't help but notice Frey keeps talking about my mother in the present tense. I want to hear more about why, but I don't want to split my attention right now.

I had planned to keep my emotions in check, they don't move the gods move anyway, but I find myself losing control, and my head crashes into my hands.

He puts his arms around me. "You know I wanted something once", he says, with an artificial peppiness in his voice, "I wanted to know something very, very badly. Bad enough to break the rules to find the answer. There is only one object that can allow you to see the answer to any question."

I just look at him, wide-eyed.

"So I sat on Odin's throne against the rules. And I lost my beloved Sumerbrander for it. I'm just glad he got a better owner. And I found out I will lose my life for it at Ragnarok, killed on my own sword. And I ended up losing Gerd in the end anyway."

Yes, I remembered, my father sat on the throne of Asgard, an honor reserved only for the king and queen, and his soul-mate was revealed to him—the gorgeous, frigid, frost giantess, Gerd. He traded his sword, his life, and quite frankly his dignity, for her hand in marriage. He got his heart's desire, but it didn't last long.

I wasn't eager to try that route. Breaking godly rules usually came with worse consequences than the ones you were trying to avoid, and I wasn't going to play around with the lives of Alex and my children.

"Only one way you can get away with it...", he starts, and I lean in.

"Only the king or queen can sit on that throne", he says.

"Is there no other way? Is there no way I can trick it?", I ask.

"No way to trick it. Only the king or queen of Asgard can sit on that throne."

"So...why are you telling me this? Do you think I could make this work somehow..."

"Only the king or queen of Asgard can sit on that throne", he repeats.

I feel the way I do when I can't find my keys, but they're sitting right in front of me. I know I'm missing something.

"Dad, help me please, if I can..."

"You love her", he interrupts, smiling, "That's a powerful weapon. I want to know something too, you know. I want something. For both of us."

"When you were talking about my mother..."

"Now, Magnus, you have enough on your plate right now", he says.

"But my mom, I've been trying to see her, find her for so long now", I say. "You have no idea how badly I wish she was here with me right now."

"I know, Magnus, I know. You worry about your responsibilities, and I'll worry about mine, okay?", he says, winking. "Now let's go for a walk in Freya's garden. The roses are blooming, but then again, they always are."

Jotunheim

Mallory POV

"I think I see him, over the ridge to the left", Halfborn comments, handing me the binoculars, as we creep behind a boulder.

"Can I help you kiddos?", we hear and we all jump sky high. "And the dwarf and the elf of course."

Loki is standing behind us, laughing, and has apparently known we were here the entire time.

"We haven't been kids in a long time", Halfborn says, unnecessarily.

"Everyone is a child compared to a god", Loki says.

Hearth has his hand on his chest like he's going to have a heart attack, and Blitz is staring daggers through Loki.

"Again, what brings two einherjar and a couple of subhuman creatures to Jotunheim?"

"Subhuman?!", Blitzen roars.

"You're here to talk to me, I take it?", Loki prompts.

"We're not going to let you kill Alex", I say, finally finding my tongue.

"Kill Alex?" He laughs. "I'm not going to kill Alex. I have no desire to kill Alex. Don't get me wrong, she's been a pain in the ass and no help to me whatsoever so far, but that could change. No, Alex is going to die because she did something stupid and got knocked up with your godling of summer's brats. Nothing I can do about it." He spreads his hands as if to demonstrate there's nothing he can do about it

"You want her dead and you plan to steal the twins!", Blitzen yells.

"I can't steal my own grandchildren", Loki insists, "They will be safe with me."

"They belong with their father", Hearth signs.

"Yeah!", Halborn yells. I wonder when he learned ASL.

"Mango Cheese?!", Loki howls. He truly despises Magnus since our friend beat him so badly in the flyting, making a fool of him in front of giants, zombies, gods, and einherhar alike. "I assure you, the twins will be safer with me than they could ever be with Magnus."

What were we thinking? Loki is a god. He could kill us with one wave of his hand. We're in over our heads, we don't even have weapons that could...

I reach slowly into my pockets. They're nearly 100% pure silver, and would be if silver weren't so malleable, but a pure silver dagger would bend. They've been strengthened with platinum instead of copper, and are a more beautiful color than anyone's ever seen—a whitish silver inlaid with warm dark pink rubies. Crafted expertly by the hand of the queen of Asgard herself.

I spin around fast, and jam one dagger in Loki's chest. No one is more surprised than I am.

He actually screams, and blood gushes down his chest.

Halfborn is used to thinking on his feet, and he also attacks, but his weapons, even the black steel axes, do little good.

Angrily, Loki pulls the dagger from his chest, and it's covered with his hot gooey blood. My aim was off a little, or he'd be dead.

"Now things have to get serious", he says. "I'm not going to kill you all, that would anger my brother a tad too much, but I'm going to send him a message. I'm going to hurt you. Bad."

Valhalla

Magnus POV

I get back from Vanaheim late. When I walk into Alex's bedroom, she's passed out on the bed, sound asleep, snoring like a freight train, wearing pink leggings and the tshirt Halfborn bought for her that reads "I'm love with an idiot." Thanks, Gunderson, always a pleasure. The shirt has completely ridden up exposing what has to be the biggest 7-month-pregnant-with-twins belly in all the 9 worlds. I glance at her as if she somehow sensed I thought that, and is going to garrote my head off. She smells like sleep and the chocolate chip cookies she was devouring and apparently didn't want me to see because she's shoved them under the bed. In this moment, I would give my life just to see her smile. I didn't know it was possible to feel this way about anyone.

She opens her eyes and smiles at me. I produce the bouquet behind my back—a collection of pink, mauve, peach, and coral roses that blend together perfectly, the most beautiful roses that ever grew.

"They're beautiful, thank you", she says.

"They're from Freya's garden", I say, setting them on the floor.

I lay down behind her, gathering her close to me, and she wiggles back into my arms. "Was I snoring?", she asks.

"Like a locomotive."

She gently slaps my arm. "Bad Magnus."

"Will you marry me?"

A soft gasp. She rolls over onto her back, enormous bare belly in the air, looking more innocent than I have ever seen Alex look. Both eyes, brown and hazel, are staring up at me, filled with a mix of confusion, fear, and delight. Hair a total mess, the scent of deep sleep, she's warm and soft and confused, and I want her so much I can't stand it. I order my body parts to behave themselves...I'm trying to do something here.

"Do you really mean it, Magnus? Are you sure? You're not asking just because of the babies?"

"I'm sure. It may have taken longer to ask if you weren't pregnant, but I certainly would have gotten around to it. I love you, always have..." I say, and her lips meet mine.

"Are you sure, Magnus? That you want to be a..." She chokes. "A widower in your early twenties?"

"STOP THAT!", I shout, and hold her close, "I'm not giving up and I'm not going to let you give up either!"

"I always dreamed, really dreamed of this...but it could never happen for me, obviously, I would never be anyone's wife or mother, but..." She stops. My heart wants to break in half as a tear drips down her cheek. I wipe it away. "It's all coming true. For a trans, gender fluid woman, it's all coming true. But I can't have it for long."

I kiss her and spoon her, squeezing her tight. "You will, I swear it. My bride, Alex Fierro, you'll look even more beautiful than the first time I saw you in a wedding dress..."

"Chase. Maybe it's all the insane hormones plunging through my bloodstream, but I'm in the mood to be traditional. Alex Chase. Oh and if by some chance, I do survive, anything public is waiting until these two are born, and I've got my waist back...NO way am I walking down any aisle looking like this or getting a wedding dress made in this size! But...we could have something private before the twins come."

"Soon?"

"Very soon."

We rub noses. If I were watching us from outside this room, I'd probably puke. But inside this room...well, it's pretty nice to be here.

"I was hoping you were going to ask", she says, rolling over, burying her face in my chest. "But you're not always the sharpest tool in the shed."

I can't argue with it.


	10. Chapter 10

Valhalla Hospital

Sam POV

It was dawn when TJ and I found them, and it's late morning when they're wheeled into the hospital.

"Hurry!", Hearth signs. I'm sure he feels guilty. His rune magic worked against Loki, but he wasn't strong enough to stop the god from hurting everyone. He grabbed Blitzen and the two of them magically appeared back in Valhalla. They found me, and I got together a search party, but the damage had been done by the time we found them.

Mallory's rib cage had been split open, but none her organs had been injured badly. Loki could have killed her, but seemed to prefer her in pain. Halfborn, who defended her very nearly to his death, had an ax buried his side, a concussion, and was missing an arm. They were both still breathing though.

"It's okay, Hearth", I sign back, "If they die at this point, they'll be fine by dinner."

He just shakes his head like Valhalla rules are beyond him, and I can't blame him.

Loki did this. My father did this. He tried to kill my friends. I have no idea how they wound up in Jotunheim in the first place, but I suspect they tried to take out Loki without telling me. They were crazy to try to attack Loki alone. He's a god!

"Sam! Sam!"

I turn my head, and see Magnus as he runs over.

"Was that Mallory and Halfborn?! What happened?", he yells. I can see Alex sitting in a chair in the waiting room, struggling to get to her feet.

"Loki happened. Why are you here?", I ask.

"Loki did this?! Why?"

"I'm going to find out as soon as they're released. Is Alex okay?"

"Yeah, it's our regular appointment time", Magnus says. Alex joins us.

"I told you to stay in your seat", he says to her.

"I don't take orders, Beantown. What happened?", she asks.

Magnus subtly shakes his head "no" at me. She has enough to worry about.

"I'm going to find that out soon", I offer, "But they're both okay. Hearth and Blitz are okay..." Hearth pokes me in the back so I see him; then he comes around to hug Magnus.

"Babies okay?", he signs.

"Just fine", Magnus signs back. "Where's Blitz?"

"His apartment. He..." Hearth makes the sign for the words "angry" and "nauseous" at the same time. Yeah, I get it, who isn't?

"I understand", Magnus signs back.

"We've got to go see them. What floor are they on?", Alex asks.

"We've got to keep our appointment", Magnus insists. "If they made it this far, they're fine."

"Which I said to Hearth", I offer.

A nurse comes out with a clipboard and bellows "Alex Fierro!"

"We have to go", Magnus says. "But we want to know all about those two when our appointment is over."

"I'll be here", Sam reassures us.

"Alex, Magnus", the doctor says, shaking hands with us. "You still feeling okay?", he asks her, and his tone indicates he can barely believe she's not dead yet. I know my face is bright red from anger.

"She's fine!", I snap.

"Well lay back on the table...", the doctor suggests.

"He's had too much caffeine today", Alex tells him, giving me a dirty look.

"Now this will be a little cold", the doctor says in the same voice he uses to tell her that every single time he pours icy cold goo on her stomach to do the ultrasound.

He moves his little gadget around. "What?! What? Something's wrong here. Something's not right. Wait, just a second, I thought I saw..."

"What?!", she shouts.

"Tell us!", I insist.

"What's wrong?", Alex asks.

"It's just that...I really don't know how to say this but..."

"Spit it out!", I scream.

"The babies...I mean it looks like you're carrying a puppy fetus and a kitten fetus... I don't know what's wrong, I..." He looks horrified and bewildered.

"Fighting like cats and dogs already?", I comment.

"Ha. Ha! Ha, ha, ha, ha", Alex howls, "I think that's the first time I've laughed like that in months."

"You don't seem concerned", the doctor says, looking like he may pass out. "I don't know if there's something wrong with the equipment..."

"They're shapeshifters", Alex supplies. "They got it from me, I'm a shapeshifter too. So is my godly parent...Loki."

"Ahhh, oh, oh, okay", the doctor say. "That's...odd. And it's going to play hell with my equipment..."

"Kids, mommy and daddy would love it if you'd go back to looking how you're supposed to look before the nice doctor has a heart attack", Alex supplies, rubbing her distended belly, and they immediately change shape back into human form.

"Oh. Oh good, good, okay", the doctor says.

"Well we know one thing they inherited from you", I say, kissing her hair and her temple beside her dark brown eye. I'm gratified when she leans into my kiss and rubs my arm. Alex is hard, if not impossible, to win over. She's been through too much. The fact that she loves and trusts me makes me feel good about me.

"I wish it were something else", she says.

"Yeah, but it's kinda cool", I respond.

"People don't trust shapeshifters", Alex says to the doctor.

"Can't imagine why", he whispers, rolling his eyes.

"Or agyrs", she adds, "But I hate that word."

"There they are", the doctor says as he moves the ultrasound device around.

"Are they healthy?", Alex asks.

"Yes, they're fine, I mean other than turning into animals, but yes, they're fine. But it was never them I was worried about. Quite frankly I can't believe you've made it this far. You just might bring these two into the world."

"I WILL. I swear I will", she says.

I don't like the tone in her voice, like she's making a personal vow that has nothing to do with me, my feelings, or us.

"They're growing like weeds", the doctor says.

"I noticed", Alex says, patting her tummy, "I keep getting bigger."

"You have such a small frame, small hips, small shoulders. I think you should be on bedrest, walking will continue to get harder", the doctor advises, "Definitely the last month and a half, sooner if you're tired, got it?"

"I don't need to go to bed..."

"Got it", I interrupt and rub her back. "Alex, you have to do what the doctor says."

"I don't need to lay around like a lazy lump while our friends are out there fighting for me!", she shouts.

"For the twins? You won't do what's best for them?", I ask.

"Do all men employ such vile manipulation?", Alex asks, and the doctor laughs.

"In my experience, yes", he confirms.

"Speaking of 'yes', you know you never answered me last night", I say.

"Yes, I did. I said I'd been hoping you'd ask..."

"That's not an answer."

"Yes", she says, taking my face in her hands, "I will marry you, Magnus Chase."

"We want to know how our friends are doing", she adds, to the doctor.

"Of course, just, please keep your stress level down", the doctor advises. "You have two more months." He says it very sadly.

I was sick and tired of everyone thinking the woman I loved more than my own life had an expiration date that was rapidly approaching. I wanted to freeze time right here and now. No, what I wanted was my children born and Alex safe again, and it was what I couldn't have. I felt like I was eager for them to be born, and yet that would mean...I held her tight.

Vanaheim

Frey POV

"You wanted to speak to me?"

"Yes, yes, thank you for coming, Odin." I incline my head to him. Best to get on his good side.

I'm surprised the King of the Gods would come speak with me privately, in my own power base, I'm just glad he came.

"I know what you want", he starts, "But I can't do it. I can't get involved in the lives of individual einherji. Where would it end? I can't help everyone, and I have literally thousands in my care in Valhalla. I know he's your son, but I just can't interfere."

"You interfere all the time", I point out, "And you owe this one. He and his friends prevented Ragnarok, tricked and trapped Loki..."

"After being responsible for releasing him!", Odin points out.

"That was hardly the boy's fault. His uncle...fell pretty far from the tree. He's descended from Swedish royalty, who always got extra favors from the throne. And after he did all that, you offered to grant him any wish he desired. He could have asked for anything, and you would have been obligated to give it to him. And he asks to use his uncle's house as a shelter for homeless kids and teens. Odin...you owe him. He's good. He's as good as it gets, he's earned this. Please."

"He's hardly a boy anymore", is all he says for a moment.

"Even if I agreed with you in theory", he adds, "I still can't interfere. I can't give him the answer. And as you know...the answer is no answer in this case anyway. Not while THAT one has to be involved."

"Speaking of THAT one, that's the answer to this. This group can't save the day like it has every other time in the past...", I point out. I know Odin is thinking he can rely on the same industrious group of young people to save the day for him again, but it's been six years since they last came to the rescue.

"I don't see why not", he interrupts, "My gang will take care of him again, trap him, keep Asgard safe. Sam is the best Valkyrie I ever met."

"As may be the case. However, their two best fighters were just badly injured taking Loki on by themselves. Sam can still fight, but she's distracted. Magnus is nearly useless right now, and Alex is heavily pregnant and about to be bedridden. That leaves 'the dwarf and the elf' as you call them."

Odin doesn't look happy with this news. He enjoys it when people do his job for him.

"The only person who can keep Loki from taking over Asgard is you. And you know there is only one person he'll listen to. I believe what happened to Balder was an accident...secretly we all do...", I say.

"He killed my son! He wants my throne!", Odin blusters.

"He tells lies, so we sew his lips shut. He accidentally kills someone, so we turn one of his children in a wolf, who murders the other, and tie him up with the intestines of his own murdered child...then drip poison in his face for all eternity, turning his wife into a slave, and then we wonder why he hates us and wants to kill us...listen, I know he's a bad guy, Odin, but it's past time we accept the role we had to play in that. It wasn't an accident that Loki became so bad. And there was only ever one person he would listen to. And he owes her an apology. I think he'll speak to Frigga. Seeing her again would certainly throw him off his game anyway", I say.

"I am not sending Frigg to speak to Loki!", he booms.

"Not alone of course, the queen of Asgard cannot go alone..."

"Certainly not!"

"You need to go with her", I advise. "Stopping him is your job anyway."

"I can't go to Jotunheim, who would...oh. Oh, you are certainly a wily one, Frey. I see how you have this all planned out..."

"Odin, I'm not asking you to give my son the answer, I'm asking you to give him the opportunity to try to find it for himself, that's all", I say. "And go deal with Loki at the same time."

"Why should I do this for this one einherji...I just don't want to set a precedent...", he starts.

"You're going to whether you want to or not. I don't think Magnus will survive Alex's death. All these einherjar of yours sit around for centuries—bored, angry, lonely, miserable, getting Phds in German literature...do you really want them to start thinking they can get out of all this, they could end the pain, if they punch their own tickets outside of Valhalla, which I sadly...can almost guarantee he will do if he loses her, especially if Loki takes his children. Sam couldn't handle it if he did. She'd quit, you'd lose your favorite Valkyrie..."

"Human emotions!", he bellows, "Thank...well, me, I don't have them. Fine, fine, fine. We'll do it your way. But you owe me! And nothing will change when he either doesn't find his answer, or does, and realizes there's nothing he can do."

"I wouldn't say nothing", I comment. "And how soon can we arrange this?"

"First my wife has to agree. I will not force her to do anything", Odin says.

"She'll do it for a friend of Mallory's", I say.

"Ugh, don't remind me of that. My wife...famous for her faithfulness...and she has a child with a mortal out of wedlock!", he booms.

"She strayed once after you said that awful thing...considering the fact that you're unfaithful on basically a bi-weekly basis, I wouldn't get too angry with her", I say.

"I seriously believe gods should stop having kids with mortals!", he yells. "It causes too many problems and divided loyalties."

"I don't disagree with you, but it's too late now. No more mortal lovers? Your actress in Hollywood...the one who got the Oscar last year who had that convenient 'wardrobe malfunction'...the one in Paris with the little dog named after you...are you willing to give them up?"

"Oh fine!", he yells. "What? Do you have a new young lover you don't want to leave or something?"

"An old one", I say.

"I was never much for the old ones. Okay, fine, I'll talk to Frigg."

"Good", I say, smiling.

Valhalla Dining Hall

Magnus POV

We all received notice that Odin was coming to dinner tonight.

Everyone was singing and swigging their mead, dining on whatever part of the Saehrimnir they fancied.

I rarely come to these anymore. I ate with Alex at Chase Place until her pregnancy, and since, our friends have always brought us something in our room. I'm not in the mood to celebrate. I'm not closer to an answer for my family than I was when I met with my father two weeks ago.

Alex has made her way down, and is getting stared at. There's nowhere for us to sit. Our friends scoot down the bench, and I sit, pulling Alex onto my lap, daring everyone to stare harder. I don't know how much they know; we've stuck to our room or our floor almost entirely.

Mallory, who is mostly healed, is hand-feeding Halfborn, even though he's deadlier with one arm than anyone else is with two.

Odin made it clear everyone was to attend. I'm enjoying my tail-end of the Saehrimnir, which tastes suspiciously like falafel, when there is a bang and poof, and the room is filled with white smoke.

It clears and Odin is sitting on his throne in the middle of the room. There is applause, bowing, nods, and "Lord Odin", coming from every direction.

"I apologize for interrupting your celebration with bad tidings", he begins, "But as I'm sure many of you know by now, Lord Loki has escaped his bonds..."

There are some low moans and grumbles from the crowd.

"We'll just catch him again!", an einherj yells.

"Yeah!"

"You bet!" they cry out.

"I know I can depend on my faithful einherjar", Odin says, "But I need to deal with this threat myself. I fear his power has grown beyond any handful of einherjar..."

"We can do it!"

"Yeah!"

He holds up a hand. "I will be seeing to this threat personally, and bringing the Lady Frigg with me..."

More "ooohs" and "ahhhh."

"Therefore", he goes on, "Asgard will be without its rulers. I will appoint someone in my place to guard Asgard in my absence..."

"It'll be the queen", someone says behind us.

"He just said she was going with him, don't you hear?", a different person answers.

"It'll be Tyr. I bet. I mean who else could it be?", another asks.

"Magnus Chase!", Odin booms, and the room falls silent enough to hear a pin drop. I shift Alex off my lap and onto the bench. "Stand."

I stand up, sensing my dad in this. "The Lady Frigg and I leave tomorrow for Jotunheim. We do not expect to be gone long, but for at least 48 hours, you will be King of Asgard from the moment we depart this world. I suggest you use your time wisely."


	11. Chapter 11

Quick update

Valhalla

Magnus POV

"What does Odin have planned?"

"Why would he take Frigg?"

"Why did he make you King?"

"Does he think you can stop Loki from taking over Asgard?"

"Why you?"

The questions are coming at me too fast.

"This is just a personal favor. Nobody thinks I can save Asgard single-handedly...", I say, just in time for Halfborn to wave his stump around.

"Bet I could!", he calls out, and everyone laughs.

Mallory lightly smacks his good arm. "Idiot."

"Alex, I'll get Sam to come stay with you while I'm gone...", I begin.

"I'm not going to deliver yet. If you think you're going away to live in Odin's golden palace for two days while I stay here and watch this crowd fight over their Saehrimnir and burp the alphabet with mead, you have another think coming", she says.

"I knew you were going to say that", I answer.

"What should we do now?", Halfborn calls.

"Whatever you normally do, Halfborn, I don't have any insider secrets to fighting Loki. I'm no leader..."I offer.

"Odin seems to think you are", Mallory insists. The room falls silent.

"Errr, stay vigilant", I say, pumping my fist and rush to the elevator.

"How was that?", I ask Alex when we're alone in the elevator. "A stirring speech?"

"Henry V", she taunts.

"Oh shut up. I've always been tongue tied."

"So let me untie it", she says, pushing me against the wall of the elevator. Alex slips her tongue into my mouth and it dances with my own.

"Wow", I grin.

"Hormones. So what was all that about? Why are you King for the day?", she asks.

"It's a favor from my father, I'm sure of it."

"It must be nice to have a godly parent who wants to help, who loves..." She stops.

"I'm so sorry, Alex. You have another family that loves you now. And swear Loki will pay for putting you in danger..."

"I think I put myself in danger", she corrects.

"And I helped", I add. "We should have listened to him."

"Then we wouldn't have them..." She touches her belly. "No matter what happens I'll never regret the twins, I'll never regret my children, even if..."

"Stop, Alex! Stop. Dammit, I can fix this! We need to get there." I bang my fist into the door in frustration and it opens with a gentle "bing" onto Floor 19. We need to get packed and go to Odin's palace.

3 Hours Later

"Holy..." she starts, looking at our heavenly surroundings.

"That was the idea."

Odin's palace soars into the blue clouds of Asgard, higher than the eye can see. The golden doors in front of us rise into the stratosphere and disappear out of sight.

We don't have to knock; the doors open for us. "Magnus Chase, we've been expected you. You are welcome here", says the voice behind the door. Heimdall steps out, smiling to greet us.

"Heimdall! It's great to see you again, but who's guarding the Bifrost?", I ask.

"It will be okay for a minute or two. I wanted to get a picture...you and I...in front of the doors. And maybe you and...whoa...what happened to you?"

Alex frowns. "I'm pregnant."

"Aren't you a dude?", Heimdall asks.

"What I am is your worst nightmare, selfie boy", Alex barks, instinctively reaching for her garrote.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, everybody calm down. Alex is transgender and gender fluid, Heimdall. Alex, we don't threaten gods please...", I begin.

"We do if they're willfully ignorant", she grits out between her teeth.

"Alex, calm down, honey..."

"Oh no, you did not just tell me to calm down "honey"", she barks.

"Oh I've seen weirder stuff than that", Heimdall answers, "I've seen a three-headed dragon."

"Maybe you should go check on the Bifrost", I suggest, "Who knows who may be trying to get in. Loki is coming. And Surt!"

"Hmmm. Maybe I should. Surt! I'd like to chop his fiery head off", Heimdall fumes. Surt wouldn't be as dangerous as Alex right now.

"That would be awesome if you did, extremely helpful. And don't worry, I won't make any decisions while "king of Asgard" that the All-Father wouldn't approve of", I laugh.

"Magnus...right now, you ARE the All-Father", Heimdall corrects. My mouth falls open. Alex looks impressed for...well, the first time since we met.

Heimdall bows his head to me slightly, then starts back to his post.

"We can get in sooo much trouble", Alex says, rubbing her hands together like a kid who got a chemistry set for the holidays.

"Oh boy", I sigh, "Let's get our stuff up to the master bedroom."

I didn't have to do much to talk Alex into a hot bath in a solid gold bathtub that squirts bubble bath out of jets, while she sips iced guava juice from a horn.

I have to ask directions three times to the main audience chamber, but my breath catches in my throat and I know I've found the right place when I walk into an enormous room that feels like it's the size of Fenway Park when empty. At the front of the room are two golden thrones. I know I have I sit on the bigger one.

I climb the dais with trepidation, a series of 13 stairs that lead to the platform where the thrones sit. It's easy to feel like a god looking down on a room like this. It's easy to feel like it's okay to mess around with other people's lives.

"Listen, Odin said it was okay to sit here, so don't like...zap me or anything", I tell the throne, "And don't do anything bad. I have a right to sit here."

I take a deep breath, and sit. A low rumble grows louder and louder, and for a moment I nearly jump right back off of it, but I'm not budging. I have questions to ask. "Oh pipe down, I have a right to sit here", I say. The rumbling softens and fades.

I have a lot of questions, but one is the most important. "I want to know how to save Alex's life. Show me how Alex and the twins can survive this."

The rainbow colors of the Bifrost surround me and start moving, zooming past me and I feel like I'm on one of those rides at an amusement park that gets closed down because 12 people puked on it in the last hour. "I'm getting motion sick!", I yell, but it keeps zooming. Then the lights slam to a stop and I'm bathed in golden bright light.

Valhalla

Sam POV

"Hunding, can you make sure fresh sheets are on Alex and Magnus's beds before they get back?", I say. "We need to be as kind to them as possible, we don't know that Magnus will have good news."

"Sure..."

"Boom! Boom!"

"What in the Nilfheim is that?", Hunding yells.

"Don't say Nilfheim", Helgi screams as the door to Hotel Valhalla thuds twice and crashes in on itself.

"Call Thor!", Hunding yells, "He's supposed to be guarding the place!"

"Stop!" I leap in front of fire giant as he enters. None of us thought Surt could get here on his own.

"I have come for the einherji, son of Loki, called Alex Fierro, who is pregnant with the children who will destroy me...wait a second that can't be right...", Surt says, flaming hot, pulling a paper out of his pocket.

He has a pair of spandex leggings hanging from one side of his crown, and a sports bra from the other.

"Son of Loki, son of Loki...", he repeats, "Pregnant...that's impossible...okay correction, Magnus Chase, son of Frey, who is pregnant with...nevermind...that can't be right either..." he corrects. "I want Alex Fierro, son of Loki, and Magnus Chase, son of Frey, brought to me immediately..."

Thor comes crashing into the room, Mjolinir in hand, Mallory on one side, Halfborn on the other, each holding a black steel axe.

"He came in through the Forever 21 women's activewear entrance?", Mallory asks.

"Thor, son of Odin!", Surt booms, "I demand Alex Fierro, son of Loki, and Magnus Chase, son of Frey, be brought to me immediately!"

"Surt! Son of...a bitch, what are you doing here?", Thor asks.

"I demand Alex Fierro son of..."

"I can't sit through all that again", Mallory interrupts.

"Your timing is impeccable like always", I yell to Surt. "They're not here!"

"What does impeccable mean?", Thor asks.

"They're einherjar aren't they?", Surt booms, "Where are they?"

"Not here, toasty", Halfborn supplies, then sticks out his tongue.

"Then bring me Odin All-Father, so that I may slay him...", Surt insists.

"He's not here either", I tell him.

Surt roars.

"Where is he?!", Surt roars.

"With my dad."

"Who's your dad?", he asks.

"Loki", I supply.

"Son of L...nevermind, where is Loki?", he asks.

"With Odin."

Surt roars again. "I know he is not with Odin, he is with me."

Halfborn looks behind Surt. "Where is he?"

"He's not WITH me with me, he's with me, we're together...", Surt says.

"You're dating?", Mallory asks, laughing.

"We're partners...we're working together!", Surt roars. "He's with me in spirit! He would not be with Odin."

"He's with you...in spirit?", Halfborn asks. "I think you should lie down."

Surt roars louder.

"I will kill you all..."

"Not today, toasty pop", Thor offers, and throws his hammer straight at Surt, who flies backward through the door. "Now get back to Musspellheim where you belong!" Fighting can be heard outside. The grunts gradually fade.

"Should we help?", Mallory asks.

"I think Thor has it in hand", I say, "How the heck did he get in here?"

"We let him in, he's supposed to guard the place", Hunding offers.

"Not Thor! Surt", I say.

"Clearly the women's activewear section", Halfborn offers.

"Yes, but how did he get even that far without Loki's help?", I ask. "It's frightening to think he's more powerful than we imagined."

"I don't believe that", Mallory comments, "Unless he had help."

We all look at each other.

"But why would Loki send Surt today? I'm sure he knows what we do before we do it, and that Magnus and Alex aren't here. He also knows Thor patrols the Hotel, and Surt's attack was doomed to failure before it started", I say.

"Unless he was trying to distract us", Halfborn says, "Ivar the Boneless used to do it all the time...if we were evenly matched, we'd set up this big battle with the Saxons...then be a no show and head for the camp where there weren't many guards instead. Take their women, ransom them, and buy a bigger army."

"First, that's sexist, second, oh shit", Mallory moans.

"Do you think he's going to take Odin or head to the palace?", I ask.

"I hate to say it, Sam, but he's your dad...what do you think he'd do?", Mallory asks.

"The palace. While kidnapping Odin would be a more intelligent choice in the long-run, Loki is always focused on what he wants in the short-term, and he thinks the twins will get him Asgard", I say. "Let's hope it's not too late."

Jotunheim

Odin POV

The only thing worse than waiting for my erstwhile brother is waiting for him when he's late.

"Did he know you were coming?", I ask Frigg, who just stares at me. "What's the hold up?"

"He's Loki", she responds.

"Yes, but... oh no."

Asgard

Alex POV

"Magnus, can you tell that guy to get me another juice?"

I hear someone enter the bathroom, and turn my head expecting to see Magnus. Instead there is the deity I swore I would never see again.

"Alex...you look ready to pop", Loki teases with a wink.

Exactly who I want to see when sitting naked and pregnant in a bathtub—Loki.

"What's up...mom?", I spit. "I thought you said everything you had to say."

"I'm sorry it has to be like this, Alex, I really am. It's not my fault this happened, in fact, I warned you both. But it's too late now, and those children you're carrying are going to have powers most of the gods can't even dream of", he says.

He's sorry, but he's focused, that's what's written all over his face. He's comfortable with losing me, he's comfortable with doing whatever he has to do to get what he wants—the avarice, the greed for power, I've never seen that look on anyone's face before. And I'm terrified.

"I've waited long enough. I need those twins, and you're going to give them to me. Now."


	12. Chapter 12

Alex POV

I was pleasantly soaking in a bubble bath in Odin's enormous pink marble tub. I notice the birdbath-like dish where he kept Mimir's head for so long sitting forlornly to the side. Proof even Odin can't save everyone. That was the last thing I needed to see right now—even gods can die. What chance do demigods have when one as powerful as Loki is playing with my fate as if I were as disposable as a cheap plastic chess piece? And my children are the pawns he wants to capture in this game.

"Why are you doing this?", I hiss at my mother as Loki comes toward me, "Why do you hate me?"

"I don't hate you, Alex! But..."

"What?!"

"I hate him! HIM! Look at you! Your body is pink with handprints where he touches you, your lips swollen from his kisses, your belly round with his children, he's all over you. You belong to him. You're his now. He made a fool of me! He has to die!"

"All this is about Magnus?", I cry out, hoping he'll hear me. I never thought I was that kind of girl (or boy), but the possessive way he described Magnus's hold on me is very arousing. Don't have time for that though.

"Not all of it. I need those twins to take over Asgard. If there was a way I could save you, I would..."

"Funny you should mention that." It's Magnus, filling the doorway, and I can feel the rage emanating off him.

"You CAN help and you know it, now get away from Alex!", he booms.

"I can't do that", Loki says, coming toward me. I scream, but all he does is touch my forehead. I start to flash back to my childhood, and then suddenly my water breaks and gushes into the already full bath tub below. Somehow, my anatomy has changed.

"Magnus!", I scream.

Magnus POV

"Alex!" I rush over to her and scoop Alex up in my arms, carrying her dripping wet out of the bathroom, and lay her gently on Odin's bed.

"You can't give birth here, it's too dangerous!", I insist, "We have to get you back to Valhalla...Loki, help me!"

I watch helplessly as that green snake just shakes his head "no." "If it would help, I would. But nothing will help, and nothing will change her fate..."

The look Loki gives her- I swear I see a tear drip down his cheek. "I'll be back for my grandchildren when it's over..."

"Oh no, I need you, and you know exactly what for, you're not going anywhere!", I scream at him, but Loki blinks out in front of us.

"No!" I yell. Breathe, breathe, breathe. Panicking Alex will make all this worse. "Okay, okay, we have to get you back to Valhalla...can you walk?"

"No! Of course not!"

"I'll carry you..."

"Miles? Magnus...this is happening right now. I...I don't understand how it's going to happen..." Alex screams and screams. Pain. Terror. They're blending together, but the more she panics, the more she risks herself and the children.

"Please stay as calm as you can..."

"Just...look down there. Tell me that this is going to work...PLEASE!", she begs.

"First of all..." I take Alex's hands in mine. "You're the love of my life. It doesn't matter what I see or find, or what's between your legs, Alex. I adore what's between your ears. I adore what's in your heart. And I adore your body too. I love you every minute of my life... period."

I pull her into a hard kiss, then pull down her lime green leggings. "You...have the ability to give birth. Your body is... different", I confirm, swallowing hard, then tossing the leggings off the side. I don't know how or why or what's going on, but Alex can bring our children into the world.

She finally takes a deep breath. "Good, that was the worst part, my biggest fear", she confirms. "I thought that's how I was going to die, that I couldn't physically give birth."

"Alex, no! We have to get you to Valhalla!"

"I can't move right now", she says.

"Heimdall!",I scream out.

A guard comes in.

"Hurry! This is an emergency. I need to get Alex to Valhalla...get Heimdall!"

He rushes out.

"Just relax, breathe", I tell her.

"I'm scared." I kiss Alex with everything I am and everything I hope for us. Running to the bathroom, I get towels and hot water. I don't know why, but in the movies, they always get hot water. I can wipe the sweat off her brow, that's about it.

Heimdall rushes in, armor clinking, with two guards.

"Thank the gods! Help me! We have to move her!", I yell, but both he and Alex are looking at me like I have three heads.

"We can't move her, Magnus, it's begun", Heimdall laments.

"No! She can't..." I yank him out of the room, and I'm angry enough to strong-arm a god.

"If she dies in Valhalla, she doesn't really die!" I know tears are rolling down my cheeks. "She CAN'T give birth anywhere but there!"

"Magnus, we can't move her right now. She'll die if you try it..."

"But she'll die if I don't!"

"Magnus..."

"Go to Valhalla and get the doctor then!", I yell "I don't care what he's doing, you're a god, make him come. Get Sam. And anyone else you can: Mallory, Gunderson, we're going to need lots of help."

"Magnus...you have to believe all this is for a reason. The gods have a reason for everything they do", he says, trying to reassure me.

"And those reasons are cruel to humans a lot of the time. I lost my mother because of those reasons. I won't lose Alex", I insist.

"I'm sorry it's going down like this", he says, and runs off to Valhalla.

I hear Alex scream, and go back in the room to be with her.

It feels...like fate. Somehow this just HAPPENS to take place the one time we're not in Valhalla? You know that sad O'Henry story they make you read in school where the wife cuts off her beautiful hair and sells it to buy a gold chain for her husband's pocket watch for Christmas and it turns out he sold the watch to buy combs for her hair? Yeah, it feels like that. Like we were always meant to be caught unawares here. This is how Alex dies, and with her, the last of my humanity.

"You were always meant to be alone. You were meant to be miserable. You will lose every woman you love...it's your destiny", one of my demons whispers in my ear, and I try to punch it away.

"You're not going anywhere without me, Fierro, in this world or the next", I say, echoing her words to me.

Alex squeezes my hand.

Minutes feel like hours, but it is a full hour before Heimdall returns.

I turn my head to yell at him as he charges in the room, but the scream dies on my lips. He's got the doctor by one arm—and the rest of our crew.

"I have never been treated thusly in my life!", the doctor yells as Heimdall releases him and pushes him toward us.

"I'm sorry, doc, but no one needs you more than she does, and you know it", I answer.

"Alex Fierro is giving birth? Here? Now?"

"Yeah..."

"But I don't have any equipment here! I don't even have a pulse monitor! I only have my bag!", he yells.

"Do your best", Heimdall insists.

This is a disaster. I need plan B.

"Gunderson, where are you?", I call out.

"Here! Here!" He's also a trooper.

"Thank you", I answer, patting his good arm.

"You want me beat the snot out of the doc?", he asks. The doctor looks horrified.

"No. I need you to find Alex's father and bring him here now", I say.

Everybody just stares. "Magnus...I don't know where he is...I couldn't even locate him, much less go there, and bring him back, by the time the kids are born", he says.

"TRY!", I yell and rather than anger, I get looks of pity. They're practically in tears for us already. I can take anything but that.

"Please just try", I say, "Alex, where is your father?"

"I don't want him here!", she insists.

"We need him", I say.

"It's fall. He hasn't left for Polanco for the winter yet. Try Albuquerque", Alex tells him.

"Got it", he says, looks back at us, kisses Mallory, and runs out the door. Thank the gods I have the kind of friends I have.

"I need room to work!", the doctor shouts and everyone backs off, except me. I will not let go of Alex's hand.

He spreads her legs and makes a noise. "Whoa! Hmmm, okay, lots of um...changes. That's good. This is so odd, but..."

"I may be giving birth, but nothing is wrong with my right hook", Alex barks.

"Sorry, she's..."

"In pain!", Alex yells before screaming.

"What can I do?", Sam asks.

"It's too late do much", the doctor says. "Your twins are coming. And the location couldn't be worse. What the hell are you doing here so close to your due date?"

"I wouldn't have gone into labor this soon if it weren't for Loki", she says. "He touched my forehead. My own mother."

The doctor looks completely confused. "I have a medical degree and I can you your mother or Loki touching your head wouldn't make you go into labor."

"Oh shut up", we all yell at once.

"Sorry doc, it's complicated. Your pregnant patient is technically a dead male. You're not prepared to go on a little faith?" I ask.

The doctor just takes a deep, irritated breath.

"Speaking of which, you're nearly 10 centimeters already...you can push in 3, 2, 1..."


	13. Chapter 13

Alex screams.

"Okay hold on, hold on...okay get ready, and push!", the doctor screams.

"I can't, I can't, I'm exhausted!" Alex yells.

She's not the only one, we've been at this five hours, and the babies are not coming.

"You can", I tell her, though my own doubts are setting my nerves on fire. What happens if she can't?

"You have to", the doctor says, "I don't have enough equipment here, I don't have anything I need, we're going to have to do this the old-fashioned way."

"WE?!", Alex barks, and Sam and I laugh, though our nerves show through.

I grab Sam's hand too. It's sweaty and shaking.

Mallory is pacing and muttering under her breath. Finally, she says, "I can't take this shit anymore", and marches out of the room. We're all handling our fear in different ways, but all of us love Alex and none of us want to lose her.

"And...push!", the doctor commands.

"I can't!"

I take her face in my hands. "Magnus, go away!", she screams, "You don't know what this is like!"

"No, I don't, you're right, but I know what loving you is like. I'm not going to lose you or the twins. You have to be stronger than it's right to ask you to be. You have to try again. Please try again for me. Please", I beg.

She screws up her courage and pushes hard.

"Good, good, the first baby is crowning...wait, what? I...something is...keep pushing", the doctor says. Sam and I share a look.

A loud cry shatters the silence. Sam and I both release the breath we didn't know we were holding.

"Thank the gods", I say.

"Um...", the doctor begins. "Well, you have a son."

Mallory charges back into the room hearing the baby's cry, and runs over to see the baby.

""Why is it... blue?", Mallory asks, bewildered.

Sure enough, the baby resembles a normal child except his skin is bright blue and he seems to have symbols drawn on him.

I have a blue son.

"I was blue when I was born. My mother told me", Sam confirms with a nod of her head. "Jotun children are eager to please, probably because so many are sacrificed for being imperfect. They won't stay blue long. They'll change their appearance to look more like someone who might be willing to take care of them."

Alex nods weakly. "Me too", she whispers. "My father...said..."

"Don't talk, sweetheart, save your strength", I insist.

Alex screams again.

"Number two", the doctor says, cheery for the first time today.

We hand the baby to Sam so I can focus on Alex. "Welcome to the world, little one, you're going to be very powerful. I wonder what your name will be", Sam croons to him.

"Push, push", I coach Alex, as she squeezes my hand so hard, I'm pretty sure the bones are broken. I heal fast.

Alex screams as the doctor says, "You have a daughter!" I take her from the doctor as soon as her throat has been cleared and she lets out a howl of protest at emerging from a safe warm environment into a world that has nothing but cold and sharp edges. She sees the immediate difference between herself and the rest of us, and howls again in rage against an unfair universe. She instantly reminds me of her mother.

"How long do they look like Smurfs?", Mallory asks. Gunderson and his TV viewing habits.

"Anywhere from a day to a month, they'll probably go back and forth for a while", Sam answers and we all look at her.

"What? I did research", she answers.

Alex screams again while we're all distracted.

"Afterbirth, but this shouldn't be bad at all", the doctor says. And then blood... like a river, it gushes from inside Alex and splashes on the floor as if it were raining red.

"Alex!", I yell.

"Bleeding, bleeding, hand me gauze!", the doctor screams. "I need to pack her fast..."

"Magnus!", Alex yells. "Ow, Magnus!" I grab her hand.

"It's going to be okay", I promise.

"Let me see them", she says, "They're yelling because they're hungry..."

"Alex, you're bleeding heavily, the doctor is trying to help you right now, we can't stop to let you..."

"I said hand them to me", she orders. "Please."

We do and she is able to feed them while the doctor works.

"I love you, Magnus. Take care of them, they're going to need you", she says, tears streaming down her face.

"NO! Alex...Alex, stay with me, you're going to be fine...we have to get her to Valhalla NOW!", I yell.

"I agree", the doctor says, too calmly. "All my equipment is there. It would be a disaster to move her, but it would be a disaster not to...the decision belongs to her next of kin. Since her parents aren't here, that falls to Sam."

"They're weeks from getting married, I think everyone here can agree this is Magnus's decision", she says. Heads nod.

"Take her to Valhalla", I say.

"I love you", she says again.

"I love you too, Alex, so much. So much." I wipe away a tear from her cheek, but my hand is covered with her blood.

"You gave me friendship, you gave me compassion, you gave me a kick in the ass all the times I've needed it, you gave me love, and now you've given me children", I say.

"I wasn't going to die without doing that", she says, repeating her phrase that I remember so well.

I lose the battle with tears and croak out a sob.

"Alex, I love you..."

"I love you", she calls out to the twins, "Be good. Magnus, tell them about me. Don't forget me right away." She's sobbing.

"Alex stop!"

"Love you, Beantown. Kiss them for me...", she whispers and is unconscious.

Heimdall has her in his arms and he's racing as only a god can to Valhalla with her in one arm and the doctor in the other.

The rest of us arrive a few minutes later.

"Magnus, I...I'm sorry" the doctor stops, his head in hands.

I crawl onto the table where they put her and hold her. I kiss her forehead.

And I know she's gone. The love of my life.

I don't know what sound I'm making, but everyone is staring at me and they burst into their own tears.

Sam wraps her arms around me and howls. "No, no, no", she keeps repeating.

"But she died here, right?", Sam asks. "She'll wake up."

The doctor grimly shakes his head 'no'. "I don't think we made it. And even if we did, this is a unique issue, it's not like getting your arms chopped off in a battle game here. This was childbirth. She has very little blood left her in body. It was...fated, as you said."

"NO!", I shout. "Where is Loki? Where is Loki? That's all I want to know."

"Loki? Magnus, no. You're not going after him, calm down", Sam orders.

"He could have done something about this, maybe he still could, but he won't...I'm going to find him", I state.

"And when you do?", Mallory asks.

"I'm going to kill him."

"Magnus! You can't kill a god! And even if you could, it wouldn't bring her back", Sam insists.

"That's where you might be wrong", I say.

"Magnus, you're in the throes of terrible grief, you're not thinking", Sam insists. "If you go after Loki, he'll kill you. Then your children would be orphans."

"Then my pain would be over. If I kill him, maybe it will be a tiny bit better. I win either way", I say.

"Oh my gods. Mallory, help me. Don't let him leave", Sam cries.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere", I say, "He said he'd be back for his grandchildren. I don't need to go looking for him, he'll find me, and when he does there will one fewer green snake in the world."

"Gods, Magnus", Sam says, wiping away a tear. She walks away and returns from her room with her Valkyrie spear.

"If you're going to try to kill my dad, you won't stand alone", she says.

"No, Sam, absolutely not, I'm not going to force you to attack your father, or force Loki to kill you. I've already lost too much today. Besides, you always wanted to be a mother, and I really need you to take care of the twins. They'll be safe and happy with you."

"Magnus! You're their father, please..."

"He'll help or he'll die", I repeat.

"How could he help at this point?", Mallory asks.

"Something I heard from a throne. It's complicated. But this time I won't be taking "no" for an answer..."

"Where are they?", I hear in all too-familiar voice behind me.

Readers: this is NOT the last chapter, relax


	14. Chapter 14

Sam POV

"Where are they?", I hear an all too-familiar voice behind me. "I want those babies. They're going to make me King of Asgard..."

Magnus turns around to face him. Loki takes one look at Magnus's face and stops mid-sentence.

"I warned you!", he shouts, "I warned you both! I said don't be intimate...but you did...and now you lost her and it's all your own fault. Now give me my grandchildren."

"Don't you want to say good-bye to your daughter?", Magnus asks, low and dangerous, motioning to the operating table where Alex's body still lies.

Loki swallows hard and doesn't do more than glance at the table. "No, I don't. I said good-bye when she was still alive. Now give me those..."

"You see, you could have helped save her", Magnus says.

"How could I? I told you I couldn't...", Loki answers.

"Oh but you could", Magnus corrects. "You know you could."

"How would I know it?", Loki asks, "This is a circular conversation, give me my..."

"The only way she could have lived is if a blood relative who loves her chose to die in her place. Now, if it was just someone who loves her, I would have done it already, but it had to be a blood relative. I sent Gunderson to find her father. I knew it was impossible", Magnus goes on, sounding like madman. He looks like one too. "But Halfborn, he doesn't know how to fail, that's the berserker in him. Since we can't find him fast enough, that leaves four choices—Sam, the twins, and you."

Loki flinches. "How would I know that? How did YOU know that come to think of it?"

"Magnus, I'll..." I start.

"Don't even think about it", he orders and I fall silent. This voice of his—hard, angry, furious, and... hopeless. I hate the sound of it.

"Loki you're going to do this", he informs the god.

Loki cackles, but it sounds hollow. "She's already dead, you moron! What good would it now?"

Magnus's bright blue eyes turn stormy gray, and he twists the pocket of his hoodie in his hands.

"Don't provoke him", I advise Loki.

"You want me to be afraid of a demigod?!" Loki howls. "Like he could best me..."

"Cuz it's never happened before, right?", Mallory offers, and Loki's green eyes blaze.

"The flyting was a fluke", Loki says, "You cheated, which I frankly thought was beneath the son of a god. That's not what a flyting is or how it works..."

"I don't give a damn about a flyting!", Magnus roars, and Loki jumps. "I want my wife back!"

"You married her?", Loki asks.

"Not yet, soon, but we were already married in our hearts."

"Aww, isn't that sweet. I suppose you're a widower in your heart then. Best I take the kids, you're in no shape to raise them", Loki says.

"If you come near my kids, I'll kill you!", Magnus roars.

Loki laughs and then smiles. "Please try little Mango Cheese, please, please. I still haven't gotten even with you for that flyting. Am I to take it then you intend to stand in my way?"

"We all are", I say, standing next to Magnus.

"Yeah", Mallory adds, joining us. TJ is with her suddenly.

"A little pack of demigods, oh what I am to do?", Loki laughs, then moves his arm, and a gust of wind tosses us across the room. We separately slam into walls and fall to the floor. Loki is howling with laughter.

"Ow", Mallory complains, standing up, and getting her wild red hair out of her eyes, "Asswipe", she adds. I stand up too and narrow my eyes at my dad.

"I'm never going to let you give my niece and nephew to Surt!", I shout.

"You stupid little girl, I'm only going to pretend to give them to Surt. The prophecy says they can kill him, so he wants them, but my grandchildren are worth a thousand Surts. Surt will offer me unconditional rule of Muspellheim in exchange for them, they'll destroy him, and I'll raise them to be my own creatures. That prophecy also said they could one day destroy Odin. They'll destroy him for their loving grandfather, and I'll be King of the Gods."

Everyone freezes.

"Odin?", I ask, "Where did you get this information? No one can kill Odin." I try to sound confident, but it doesn't sound like a lie, even the way he said it...

"They're the most powerful Norse demigods ever born, with "deity DNA" from both sides, from the light and the dark, from the creator of life and warmth and from the creator of darkness and death...they can rule both sides", Loki confirms. "Of course I don't know which they're likely to take to...but I have a feeling one will master the light and the other the dark. They can rule all 9 worlds. And I will rule them."

"Not while I'm alive", Magnus growls.

"Funny, that's exactly how I saw it too", Loki says, and attacks Magnus, knocking him backward.

Magnus lifts his hand, and Loki flies backward. The look on my dad's face...

"How...how did you do that?", Loki howls, confused.

"I grew up without my mother and now you've cursed my children to the same fate!", Magnus yells.

"Your mother." Loki smiles. He walks toward Magnus and presses the palm of his hand to Loki's head.

Magnus POV

I'm six. I'm in the mountains by a stream, and see the brilliant sunlight glinting off the scales of tiny blue fish just beneath the surface. I feel a masculine presence I can now identify, seeing it all again.

I look around and see a woman in her 30's, short blonde hair and brilliant green eyes, always smiling. I still see her in my dreams. "You see all this Magnus? He created all this just for us. I know you don't understand now, but you will." She inhales deeply. "The air- it smells like him—strawberries, roses, and sunlight. The scent of summer."

My mother lifts me in her arms and I feel the warmth of the sun on my face and shoulders. I can feel him here, watching over us.

Then the scene turns dark. "Run!", my mother screams as I hear wolves growl on the other side of our apartment door. Blue light floods into our apartment. "I said, run!"

"Not this time!", I yell back.

"Magnus, run!"

Explosions, the smell of heat, the smell of burnt electrics, the smell of death...

"You remember don't you, boy?", Loki taunts. "What your mother was like? What her death was like? She misses you. Why don't you go to Hel and join her?"

I hold up my hand. Nothing happens. He laughs. I hold it up again and I feel my mind shut like a steel door. He's out.

"How did you do that?", he says, blanching even paler than he usually is.

I rush him and press my palm to his head, and he's too shocked to stop me.

A bar around 9 pm. It's hot under the starry sky and the air smells like creosote. Cacti grow out of the sand on both sides of the building. Outside, a woman saunters toward the door.

She's tall, and extremely curvy with a small waist but the largest chest and bottom I've ever seen. Her skin is a pure, pale white with emerald eyes perfectly lined with black liner. Copper red curls bounce down her back to her waist. Her red lips are full and sensual. Despite being a different gender and different age and lacking the scars, I'd recognize Loki anywhere, and I can say he makes a much better looking woman than he does a man.

He walks in and sits down at the bar. The bartender is all googly eyed.

"What can I get you, gorgeous?", he asks.

"There was an art show in this parking lot earlier today. I want to know who made the pottery, it's...otherworldly", she says.

"Well I don't know about that, but I could show you something otherworldly", the bartender offers crudely.

A head turns and a short, but good-looking darker complected man stares at her. "Those are mine, senorina."

Sensing he's already lost, the bartender moves on reluctantly.

"You made those pieces I saw this afternoon?", she asks.

"I did. My name is Alberto Fierro...my family has made pottery like that for hundreds of years..."

She smiles. "There are so few real artists left in the world. It seems they all belong to a bygone age."

"Thank you, senorina, now how much do you know about tequila?"

The chitchat seems to go on for hours. "I would never have believed you could drink me under the table, una Hermosa." He unsteadily sets down his fourth shot glass and there are two empty margarita glasses around him.

"I'm not going to lie to you, senorina, I am a married man, that is the truth. I have never been able to capture beauty like yours, not even in my pottery. That is also the truth", he says. "You are exquisite."

"And you are a true artist", she says.

"Let me sculpt you", he says.

The next thing I see, I turn away from, a tangle of white sheets in a cheap motel room in Baja near the beach. Mr. Fierro passed out cold.

His eyelids flutter open in the morning. Holding his head, he scoots out of bed and pushes the bathroom door open to find—Loki as Loki. For the first time, I truly pity Mr. Fierro.

"Deus!", he screams.

"Well, yes, one of them anyway. Oh don't be like that, you got what you wanted", Loki says, "And so did I. You really are an amazing artist you know." He turns and walks out the front door.

Then I see Loki back in chains, scars all over his face, but he's vomiting up everything he ate for the last century. His body starts to morph.

"What? No? It was only once, how the hell did this happen?!" But it's too late. Loki is changed into a woman. Apparently Alex really isn't all that unique. She was not the first gender fluid person in her family; she was not even the first pregnant one.

I see flashes then. Loki getting bigger, getting sick. "You could get rid of it", I hear a godly voice suggest, but I can't tell which one. Loki looks fiercely angry.

"You know you make a pretty woman, you should stay that way", Thor suggests and howls of laughter go up.

Loki trudges away alone. "They turned their backs on us", he says, rubbing his belly. "It will be okay though, I promise."

Then Loki in labor, later holding a baby boy in his arms. Then as that beautiful woman again walking up a bluestone path to the door of an expensive estate in the southwest.

The door opens. "Go away!", Mr. Fierro shouts. "I want nothing to do with you!"

"You don't have a choice. This is our child. Gods don't raise babies", she informs him. "That's your job."

"You can't be here! If my wife finds out what happened..."

"Didn't you hear me?" She hands him the baby. "This is our child. I cannot raise him, I'm not allowed to, and your wife will not send our baby into the system. You will raise him, and raise him well."

"I can't..."

She hands him a very tiny Alex. As she turns away, she brushes away a tear. Then I see her at night, sobbing, wrapping her arms around herself.

"I said NO!", I hear and suddenly I'm not in Loki's head anymore. We're back in the hospital in Valhalla.

"How in the name of all the gods did you do that?!", he screams. "You don't have that kind of power!"

"The same way I found out the rules for saving Alex. I sat on the throne of Odin", I announce.

"You fool", he laughs, "Like father like son. You'll pay just as high of a price for your betrayal."

"How do you think I had the power to reach into your head, Loki? You want to be king of the gods? That job is taken by Odin. But when he's gone, he appoints someone else. Right now, Odin is not king of the gods."

"Who is?!", he howls.

"Guess", I answer, and watch as realization dawns on his face.

"I hate you", he whispers.

"I don't care. I want to talk about Alex. You loved her. You did, at one point, you loved her", I say.

"I don't love anyone but myself!", he shouts.

"I saw too much to believe that, Loki. I think you're the product of a lot of things, including getting nothing but hate and rejection from the other gods. But I can't worry about that. Alex isn't in Nidavallir or Hel yet, but she's bound for one of those places since she died in childbirth. But she's only been dead minutes. It's not too late to keep your child from being miserable for eternity, to bring her back, and let her be a mother. And this time "no" isn't an option."


	15. Chapter 15

"Look at her!" I shout, even though I haven't really done it myself. I've held Alex, but never focused on her small, broken body, drenched in blood lying on the table. I don't know that I could recover if I did.

"I'm going to enjoy killing you", Loki says instead, refusing to let his eyes wander to her.

"Look at her!", I shout again, and finally join him in grief, letting tears loose. It's when he feels this connection that his eyes follow my own. Slowly he walks toward the table and I see his shoulders sag.

"My baby", he whispers, "What did they do to you? What did they do? YOU did this!" He points a finger at me.

"I loved her! Being intimate was inevitable. We didn't know this would happen..."

"I told you! I told you not to! You didn't listen!" he booms.

"You're not exactly the world's foremost expert on truth, Loki. Maybe if you'd shared more details, we might have", I say. "Besides you got what you wanted, the twins."

"I don't have them yet", he growls.

He touches Alex's cheek and her hair, which has had to go 9 months without dyeing and is now 7 inches of green and 4 of pure black that matches his own.

"I saw you cry when you gave Alex up. You love your children. You love Sam. But it's different with Alex...you carried her. You gave birth to her. I know you love her", I insist.

"If I did", he says, wiping away a tear, "It makes no difference. I'm not going to kill myself so you can get some kind of revenge for it, baby Frey."

"I'm not talking about revenge, and I'm not talking about killing yourself. You need to go to Hel and talk her into letting Alex go. I'm talking about getting her back...she's your child", I say.

"You know how many of my children I've lost!", he booms, "One of my sons turned into a vicious wolf, then he murdered my other son before my very eyes and his mother's. Tied up for millennia with ropes made out of my child's innards! One child doomed to the bottom of the sea, my daughter the ruler of the underworld with none but the dead to speak to because she was too ugly for the venerable eyes of my brothers and sisters. Fate, nor the other gods, have been particularly kind to me or mine..." He rubs the scars on his lips where they bear the evidence of being sewn together as punishment for telling lies.

"I know all this, Loki, and I grieve for your pain, but I'm in pain too", I insist. "If you can save one of them, you must."

"Hel wouldn't understand the favoritism, she wouldn't cooperate", he says.

"She wouldn't give Balder back because Odin asked. If her father asked, she would, if you traded yourself for Alex, she would!"

"No", he says.

"Loki! You owe her!"

Loki stares at her, and moves a bloody strand of hair off her face.

"Alexander, your father did not obey me", he says, "I told him that he was to treat you like the miracle you are. That your stepmother was not to interfere. And he threw you out, he hurt you...for being like your grandfather. And for being like me."

"Loki, we have to find a way...we have to go to Hel together...", I insist.

"For being like me..."

"Loki...hurry, we have to go..."

I don't get very far. I yell and Sam lets out a scream as Loki picks up a surgical blade and plunges into his chest.

"Dad!", Sam rushes forward to grab him as he slumps toward the floor.

"That wasn't what I meant for you to do", I insist.

"But it was what you wanted", he groans out. "Promise me two things. First, that I can be in my grandchildren's lives in any way I still can...promise me..."

"Lord Loki..."

"Promise me!", he shouts.

"I promise", I say. He's a dying man, what harm can it do.

"And promise you will take care of my baby", he says.

"I'll take care of her, and our babies. I promise you that with my whole heart", I respond.

"Magnus!", Mallory shouts, and motions to Alex. Her eyes flutter open.

"Alex!" I run over to her and gather her in my arms. I scoop up her frail body and hold her close enough to feel her heart beating again.

"You're getting blood all over you, Beantown", she snipes.

I hold her face with both hands and look into her eyes—one brown, one hazel. "Thank the gods! I love you, I love..." I kiss her a million times and she kisses me right back.

"I love you too, Maggie."

"You were dead", I say.

"I knew I was going to die, all along, I mean I hoped...but I knew it would happen. I had to have the twins though, I wanted to give you the children, I..."

"I love you." I hold her tight.

"I love you. How am I here?", she asks, then sees Loki slide to the floor.

"Loki...Mom?" She jumps up.

"Don't strain yourself!", I shout.

"I'm fine", she insists, though there's blood all over her. Her wounds seem to be healed.

"What happened?", she asks.

"The only way to save you...a blood relative who loved you had to trade places with you...", I confirm.

"Who loves me. But Loki hates me."

"Lok...Mom, why did you do this?", she shouts, sitting on the floor next to Loki, who is slowly bleeding out. "You hate me."

"Hate you?", Loki asks, drawing a finger down her face.

"Alex...I...", he coughs.

"I haven't been who you wanted me to be", Alex says, fiercely wiping away a tear, "I'm not who anyone wants me to be. I'm defective, don't you know that? You have no business dying for me."

"Defective? I would say unique", Loki says, wiping a tear off her cheek, "Don't cry for me, mi amado."

At that, Alex bursts into tears. "No..."

"I carried you, I gave birth to you, I love you, and I'm sorry your life wasn't what I wanted it to be", Loki says. Alex takes Loki's hand.

"Sam...", he says, and Sam takes his other hand. "I love you both...promise me...and I know you will have children, Samirah, promise me, you will both tell your children about me, that I can be as big a part of their lives as I still can..."

"I promise", Sam says.

"I promise too", Alex says.

"No, Mom...no", Alex cries as he slips through her arms flat onto the floor.

"Dad", Sam sighs, closing his eyes.

"I'm so sorry", I say.

"He had no right to do that", Alex fusses.

"He had every right", I correct her, "He was a parent who chose to die for his child. I know I would for you or the twins in a heartbeat."

Alex rushes into my arms, then hugs Sam. "I need my kids", Alex sighs.

I charge out of the room, and find the doctor clutching them in the hallway.

"She's okay, Alex is alive", I tell him.

"What?! How? Nevermind...", the doctor rubs his head, and I try not to laugh.

I take them from him and carry one in each arm into the room.

"I still think they look like Smurfs", Mallory complains.

"Do not call my children Smurfs, Mallory Keene!", Alex shouts.

"Hello", she croons softly to each baby as I lay them in the crook of her elbows. I've never seen Alex so gentle, or so mesmerized. "Hello, babies, I'm your momma. I may be kind of...confusing sometimes. I'm usually a woman, sometimes I'm a man, but I'll always be your mother, and I'll always love you. With my whole heart, for my whole life."

"With my whole heart, for my whole life", I repeat, kissing her forehead.

I wipe away a tear.

"With my whole stomach, I want to vomit on both my shoes", Halfborn mocks, barging in the room. "Sorry, guys, I couldn't find Mr. Fierro, I tried..."

"It's okay, we didn't need him", I answer, "Loki helped."

"Loki?", he asks, skeptical. "Helped? Loki helped? I mean, Alex does look fine."

"Better than fine", she corrects, back in fighting form already.

Mallory rushes to his side to hug Halfborn, then hits him. "Why can't you say things like that to me?"

"See what you do!", he says, pointing at me and Alex.

"Yes. He did the right thing", I say, nodding, ignoring the two of them. And if that message from Odin's throne was right, I may be able to do the right thing too. My kids may be down one grandparent, but they might get another back.

"Do you know what you want to call them?", Mallory asks.

"Well we have been a little busy...for instance, I've been dead", Alex mocks, "But I did have some ideas."

"Me too", I say.

"Nobody said you could offer ideas", Alex insists.

"They're mine too you know. Couldn't have done it without me..."

"Oh yeah...I died in childbirth, no biggie, we couldn't have done it without you." She sticks her tongue at me.

"But first thing's first", I insist.

"First thing's first?", Haflborn asks.


	16. Chapter 16

Two Weeks Later

Alex and I stand before Odin and a couple thousand of our nearest and dearest other Einjarhar, as well as at least a dozen deities. Alex forgot all about wanting to wait for a public wedding until she was back in fighting trim. After having lost the woman I love, neither of us have much time for silliness or vanity anymore. Although she did insist the gown was made by Christian Siriano in two weeks. She IS a girl after all. I guess Odin can pull strings.

I hold up a ring.

"With this ring, I thee wed."

Alex takes it out of my hand and reads the inscription aloud, "With my whole heart, for my whole life."

There are sniffles in the audience, and loud sobbing from Sam. I slip the ring on her finger.

She holds up a ring too. I read aloud, "With my whole heart, for my whole life."

She slips the ring on my finger, "With this ring, I thee wed."

Odin pipes up: "With the power invested in me...um, by the fact that I'm god, I now pronounce you, husband and...um, are you his wife?"

"Hell yes, you better believe I'm his wife!", Alex barks and the everyone laughs.

"I now pronounce you husband and wife. Einharjar, ladies and gentlemen, gods and goddesses, I give you Mr. and Mrs. Chase!"

The roaring and shouts start as we run down the aisle, holding hands.

Sam has one baby and Mallory the other.

"Party time!", Halfborn shouts.

A pretty young einharji is looking me over when Alex gets in her face. "The blonde surfing god is mine, mine, ya got it? 'Til death, real like Ragnarok-type death, do us part'." She flips her ring finger at her, showing off the diamond.

The girl runs off. "Alex, take it easy", I advise.

"I want to make sure no pretty little cis girls catch your eye, you're mine now, Beantown...", she barks.

"I was yours from the first moment I saw you."

"Okay, wow." Alex falls into my arms and I kiss her until her lipstick is all over both of us.

"It's called Magnolia Sunrise", she offers, as I wipe it on a napkin.

"It's called messy", I amend.

"Don't argue with me, Maggie", she says.

"Don't call me Maggie..."

"I love you. Magnus Chase", she amends.

"I love you too, Alex Chase."

I sweep her into my arms and twirl her around.

A Month Later

Odin has referenced our "constant ceremonies" three time already today in aggravation over the fact that we asked him to officiate our wedding, and then the twins' naming ceremony a month later. He tries hard to hide how flattered he is.

The babies occasionally change back to the shade of blueberries as a prank on mommy and daddy, but for the most part, they have the coloring they will stick with now, and the coolest part is that they chose it themselves.

My daughter picked a fair ivory skintone that is lighter than either of her parents, a shade that seems a copy of her deceased grandparent. Both of them seemed to like their mother's heterochromia, and each have a hazel eye and an eye that is another color. It makes an arresting combination with her mother's black hair, a hazel left eye and a bright emerald green right one that also looks exactly like Loki's. She looks a lot like a baby Loki must have, which can be a little...alarming when she stares at you.

My son chose his mother's medium skin tone, awash with warm gold, honey, and olive tones. He's paired it with my blonde hair though, and I know when he grows up he'll look like he spends all his time at the beach sitting in the sun. My son's left eye is hazel and his right eye is the exact cornflower blue shade of my own. I take it as a compliment.

Odin holds out his arms and Sam places my son in the crook of his elbow, where the baby smiles. Their personality attributes are already coming out. Our boy is so much easier to please and calmer, and loves his momma and falling asleep in her arms above all things. Our daughter is harder to please and more independent.

We decided to name them after people we love, and to honor the grandparent who made the ultimate sacrifice for us—along with his long-suffering wife.

"My people, I give you the two newest members of our community", Odin booms, making some kind of sign above the baby's head, "May I present Samuel Magnus Loki Chase." Everyone claps and Samirah takes her namesake from him, beaming.

Mallory hands our daughter to Odin and he makes the same odd signs over her head. "May I present Natalie Alexandra Sigyn Chase." More clapping. Natalie swats at Odin with her little fist as if he's personally responsible for the noise hurting her ears. Mallory takes her back.

"I still think Halfborn was the better choice", Gunderson says standing next to me, and I mock punch him.

There's another Natalie Chase now, but I'm still thinking about the woman she was named after.

Frey strolls over to me and I try not to beam when he puts an arm around my shoulders. "Grandpa, huh?", he asks.

"Seems like it", I answer. "I was thinking about my mother..."

"You clearly were when you named my new granddaughter", Frey says, and wipes his cheek when he thinks I'm not looking.

"Thank you. I realize I never said thank you, with everything that's been going on, for thinking of sitting on Odin's throne."

"I'm going to owe him for the next few millennia, so don't worry about it, kid", he says with a wink. "But it's worth it just to see those two. I hear my new grandkids are pretty darn powerful...destined to kill Surt, is that right?"

"Yeah, that's what I heard", I respond, "The most powerful Norse demigods ever born...I got the light side from you and Alex got the dark side from Loki, so they can kind of...do anything."

"Watch that", he advises.

"Yeah, I thought so too, listen, Lord Frey..."

"Dad", he corrects.

"Dad...I had some time on that throne before Alex went into labor...I asked how to save her and my kids, but I asked about other things too...like...Mom", I say.

"I wondered if you had", he responds, still not looking at me. It's as if he's afraid to become excited.

"I think we can get her back."

He turns and stares at me, smiling wide. "How? Tell me exactly what you heard", he says.

"When asking something of Hel, it's best to have a value to sell", I repeat. "I think it means 'a favor for a favor.' I never had anything Hel would want, but she may want to meet her niece and nephew, the thing is..."

"You don't want to take your newborns into hell.", he says.

"Um, actually no, we don't. Alex and I discussed it. According to Odin, they're 100% alive despite being born to us, it's a mystery, but...they're living demigods, and the risk is too great. What if she decided to keep them? But, that doesn't mean Auntie Hel can't come visit us here. My mother is a plain old human, Hel can't be benefitting much from having her around, I can't imagine she cares that much...but, the most powerful demigods ever born?", I ask hypothetically.

"Oh yeah, she's interested", Frey adds.

"I'm hoping visiting them and some small favor will free Mom. She needs to see her grandchildren", I say, and Frey hugs me.

"Yes, she needs her grandchildren...and I need her", he confirms.

"Besides, I'm sure Hel is getting a little tired of dear old dad by now anyway", I add.

Frey just takes a deep breath.

"No?", I ask.

"I think you need to speak to Odin about this whole Loki situation", he says.

"What do you mean 'Loki situation'?", I ask warily, "He's dead."

"He's a god, Magnus", Frey corrects and I'm starting to get nervous.

"Gods die", I say, "I saw him do it."

"Gods die, but do they really? Listen, just speak to Odin, okay?" he asks, "I'm going to try to think of a way to lure Hel here to see twins. I'm sure she's furious she wasn't invited today."

Hours later, Alex and I each have one of the twins when Odin walks over to look at them. "Beautiful", he says, tickling Natalie's cheek and Sam's foot.

"Listen, Frey told me I should ask you about the 'Loki situation'", I start, and Alex stares at me like I've lost my mind, "He says there's more to this or something."

"I was surprised you named your son after him", Odin comments, distracted by the babies, "Seems like asking for trouble to me to name your kids after he and his wife."

"Well, we wanted to commemorate what he did...to celebrate his memory, actually we were thinking of some kind of ceremony", I say, and Alex nods her head, turning to Odin.

Odin laughs. "Hmmm. Magnus...Alex...Ragnarok is written history though it hasn't happened yet", he says.

"And...", I prod as Natalie reaches up and yanks a fistful of my hair.

"There's no changing it. There's no changing anything that will happen there. You will both die a final death there..." Alex and I both flinch, and I instinctively put an arm around her, pulling her closer.

"And Loki will fight and win until Heimdall puts a sword through him. There's no changing it", Odin repeats.

"But he's...dead", I say. I feel like I'm repeating myself.

"He's a god, Magnus", Odin says, just like Frey did. "What died was just another projected version of him. He'll turn up again...probably when it's time for the next feast. He's tied up you know...you were there, Magnus...I don't understand why you're confused", he laughs, like I'm the dumbest creature on earth and I'm starting to agree.

"So Loki is not dead?", I prod.

"Ummm, not really", Odin says, distracted again, "He didn't ask you to do anything before he died, right?"

"No, no, of course not", I answer. Alex's mouth is hanging open.

"He didn't ask you do anything for him?", Odin asks.

"No, of course not, we know better than to do anything for Loki", I say, with certainty.

"He didn't make you promise anything?"

"No, no, of course n...well...we did promise to let him be a part of the twins' lives as much as he could, but he's dead...or he was...he's tied up...he's...oh shit", I comment.

"Loki wants your children and you promised he could have them?", Odin asks, and this time the veil is off his hint that I'm a walking moron.

"No! Not that he could have them, of course not!", I insist.

"Never!", Alex says, "We never would have said he could have them. That he could be as much a part of their lives as he still could...but he was dying..."

Odin stares open-mouthed at her too.

"My mom, that lying son of b...", Alex starts.

"Hey now, little pictures have big ears", Heimdall says, walking over to look at the kids. "Watch the language!"

"Well you did find something out, Alex Fierro", Heimdall offers, "Loki loves you. He's certainly never done anything like that for anyone before."

"They need to be guarded! Twenty-four hours a day!", Alex yells. "Dammit! I thought he died for me! He's going to try to get at them, I know it!"

"Oops, helicopter parent...okay I'm off", Heimdall adds, "I'll arrange for some security."

"He fooled us, but it's okay...we have our kids and he doesn't", I say. "Hey, it's a happy day."

Alex sighs. "It sure is, Beantown", she jokes and leans in for a kiss.

8 Months Later

"Morning bro...wait a sec..." I gasp.

"You're right! I'm...MALE!", Alex screams. "Male! I haven't been male in two years!"

"How long ago did you stop breastfeeding?", I ask.

"Few days ago, dude", he says, and I laugh at the quick change.

"That did it. But don't worry, you're too smart to be male for long..."

"Yeah, you're right", he says, and rolls over without a care in the world.

In the nursery...

"Ba ba", Nat says, pointing to a bottle on the dresser. "Ba ba!"

"Momma", Sam suggests, always the patient one, in favor of waiting for parental help.

With no patience, Natalie reaches out for the bottle again, "Ba ba!" It floats across the room and into her waiting hand. She smiles and start to drink.

"Very good, little one." They both look around the room for the source of the voice, and see a tall, thin man with dark hair.

"Can you say 'grandpa'?", he asks, "Grand...pa...Loki."

The End for Now


End file.
